How James Wan’s New Remake Totally “Reinvented” 96-Year-Old Sci-Fi Horror Franchise

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James Wan successfully revived a classic sci-fi horror series with a fresh and innovative approach.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is the newest film in the horror franchise, which hadn’t seen a release since the third movie in the Brendan Fraser reboot back in 2008. The film is directed and written by the director of Evil Dead Rise, and produced by Wan and Jason Blum through their production companies. This marks the first Mummy movie released by New Line Cinema.

The movie follows the Cannon family – Charlie, a journalist, his wife Larissa, and their three children – when they move to Egypt for Charlie’s work. Their middle child, Katie, mysteriously vanishes. Eight years later, Katie unexpectedly reappears inside an ancient sarcophagus, with no explanation of how she got there or how she survived. As the family tries to help Katie readjust to life at home, Charlie and Larissa desperately try to figure out what happened to her, especially as she begins to exhibit frightening and unexplainable behavior.

Jack Reynor, known for ‘The Perfect Couple,’ and Laia Costa, from ‘The Wheel of Time,’ star in ‘Mummy’ as Charlie and Larissa, respectively. The film also features May Calamawy (‘Moon Knight’), Natalie Grace, Verónica Falcón, May Elghety, Shylo Molina, and Billie Roy. After early screenings for the press and social media influencers, initial reactions have praised the film’s intense and frightening moments. It will be released in theaters on April 17th.

To celebrate the release of the movie, Ash Crossan from ScreenRant spoke with Lee Cronin and James Wan about Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. They talked about how they wanted to bring a fresh perspective to the classic horror franchise, their efforts to update it, and they even explained one of the film’s biggest unanswered questions.

Cronin & Wan Wanted To “Reinvent” The Franchise With Their Film

Starting with the 1932 film starring Boris Karloff, The Mummy series has explored many different styles and storylines. It’s gone from the classic horror of the original Universal movies, to the lively, lower-budget approach of Hammer Films, then to Brendan Fraser’s action-packed trilogy, and finally to the unsuccessful attempt to launch a ‘Dark Universe’ with Tom Cruise. Sometimes the mummies were brought back to life by ancient curses seeking revenge, and other times, the films used more science fiction-based explanations.

Because of what had been done in earlier movies and restrictions caused by copyright issues, Wan and Cronin had a lot of freedom when developing The Mummy. The producer remembered their initial conversations focused on the existing films and the established “rules and mythologies” of the series.

After that, the team discussed which existing ideas they wanted to keep and which elements they wanted to reimagine and make unique. Cronin agreed that a primary goal for their new version of The Mummy was to create something original and surprising for viewers.

Lee Cronin explained they aimed for something different, recognizing that everyone – whether thinking of a film or a museum – already has an idea of what a mummy is. Their goal was to challenge and change that existing understanding.

Blumhouse Is Not Kidding — Brendan Fraser Is NOT In Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

Before the movie came out, Blumhouse repeatedly tweeted that “Brendan Fraser is NOT in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.” This was either to stop rumors about a connection to the original Mummy films starring Fraser, or to playfully suggest he might be involved. When asked about the tweets, Cronin joked that the latest one was actually posted by Brendan Fraser, claiming he’d “hacked the Blumhouse account.” Director Wan responded by saying that would be “amazing.”

When questioned about whether Brendan Fraser would appear in the new Mummy film directed by Lee Cronin, Wan stated that, as far as they know, Fraser isn’t involved. He playfully suggested that audiences would have to watch the movie to find out for sure, hinting that a Fraser appearance could become a legendary movie mystery like others before it.

Lee Cronin used a playful analogy, comparing the potential discovery to a scene from the movie ‘Three Men and a Baby’ – imagining finally ‘catching’ a ghost looking in the window, meaning definitively observing something previously unseen.

James Wan: So, you’re saying a cardboard cutout of Brendan in the window?

ScreenRant: Yes. That was one of my favorite internet things back in the day.

James Wan: I wanted to believe it.

Cronin discussed the film’s theme of renewal and mentioned a project called “Box of Bones” that he’s eager to revisit. He started developing it immediately after directing his first feature, The Hole in the Ground. He explained that focusing on Evil Dead Rise and now The Mummy has delayed its progress, but he hasn’t abandoned it.

Lee Cronin describes a disturbing idea he’s been pondering – a tense, unsettling relationship between two people and a ghostly presence, much like a classic horror film. He feels this concept is persistently occupying his thoughts, almost taking over his mind.

Be sure to dive into some of our other Mummy-related coverage with:

  • James Wan & Lee Cronin on how they broke The Mummy franchise’s 27-year rating tradition
  • Wan on the main hurdle that his long-awaited Call of Cthulhu adaptation is facing

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2026-04-16 00:10