If you thought 2026 belonged to just one mummy, think again. The newly released trailer for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy makes one thing abundantly clear: this is not the globe-trotting, wisecracking adventure that made Brendan Fraser a late-’90s action icon. This is something far darker, intimate, grotesque, and emotionally unsettling.
And yes, in a twist of Hollywood timing, Fraser and Rachel Weisz are officially returning for Universal’s long-gestating fourth installment of their blockbuster franchise, set for 2028. But before that sandstorm even kicks up, Cronin is dragging the legend of the undead into deeply disturbing territory.
A Reunion That Shouldn’t Have Happened
Cronin’s film centers on a journalist and his wife, played by Jack Reynor and Laia Costa, who have spent eight years grieving the disappearance of their young daughter in Cairo. The loss has hollowed them out. Their lives have been defined by absence.
Then comes the call. Their daughter Katie has been found.
What follows is not relief, but dread. Before the reunion, a doctor offers an ominous warning: “No sudden moves. No loud noises.” When the parents finally see their child, they’re confronted with something impossible and horrifying.
Katie, portrayed by Natalie Grace, has spent the better part of a decade sealed inside a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus. She’s alive… but altered. Ancient forces seem to cling to her. Her body is decaying yet animate. Her voice shifts between innocence and something far older.
In one chilling line that instantly became the trailer’s hook, she sweetly tells her grandmother, “Don’t worry grandma, it’s fun to be dead.”
That’s the tonal difference in a single sentence.
From Swashbuckling Spectacle to Body Horror
Universal’s Mummy saga began with 1999’s The Mummy, followed by The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, big-budget adventure films filled with quips, romance, and CGI spectacle. The franchise also spun off into The Scorpion King and even survived a failed Dark Universe relaunch via 2017’s The Mummy starring Tom Cruise.
Cronin’s take couldn’t be further removed.
Instead of desert chases and ancient priests commanding sandstorms, this version narrows its focus to domestic horror. The trailer teases peeling skin, contorted limbs, suffocating tension, and psychological torment. It’s less Indiana Jones and more existential nightmare.
A Horror Powerhouse Behind the Scenes
Cronin is no stranger to turning family spaces into battlegrounds. His breakout feature, The Hole in the Ground, premiered at Sundance and explored maternal paranoia with chilling restraint. Then came 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, which grossed $147 million worldwide and reestablished him as a formidable horror stylist.
This time, he’s backed by genre titans James Wan and Jason Blum, alongside producer John Keville. That Wan-Blum partnership alone signals a commitment to bold, crowd-shaking horror.
The supporting cast includes May Calamawy and Veronica Falcón, rounding out a story that appears to blend emotional devastation with full-throttle creature feature terror.
Can Two Mummies Rule the Box Office?
It’s rare to see dueling interpretations of the same classic monster unfolding simultaneously. Universal is leaning into nostalgia with Fraser’s return, banking on audience affection for Rick and Evelyn O’Connell’s chemistry. Cronin, meanwhile, is carving out an entirely separate identity, one that avoids franchise confusion by literally branding the film with his name.
The real question isn’t which mummy wins. It’s whether audiences are ready for both.
One offers escapism and adventure. The other offers dread, decay, and the horrifying possibility that the thing you prayed would come home… probably shouldn’t have.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy opens in theaters on April 17. And if the trailer is any indication,
this is one resurrection that won’t feel triumphant. It will feel wrong.
