The Mummy
A 1920s Egyptian desert adventure where treasure hunters accidentally revive a cursed high priest, unleashing ancient evil that threatens the world.
Where to watch online
Official services. The link goes straight to this film.
Availability data by JustWatch
About the film
The sands will rise. The heavens will part. The power will be unleashed.
What it’s about
In 1920s Egypt, legionnaire Rick O'Connell and librarian Evelyn Carnahan join forces to find the lost city of Hamunaptra. Their excavation awakens Imhotep, a high priest mummified alive three thousand years ago for a forbidden love. Now free, the creature seeks to reclaim his power and his lost beloved, forcing the explorers to confront a horror they cannot control.
What hooks you
Stephen Sommers directs Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in a rollicking adventure that mixes treasure-hunting thrills with supernatural menace. The production won a Saturn Award for its makeup, and the cast includes Arnold Vosloo as the menacing Imhotep. Behind the scenes, Fraser nearly lost his life when a noose tightened during a hanging scene, a reminder of the physical risks taken for the film's action sequences.
Who it’s for
It will appeal to those who enjoy fast-paced adventure with a dash of horror, where ancient curses and buried secrets drive the action. Viewers who like the chemistry of mismatched heroes facing overwhelming odds will find plenty to enjoy.
- Country
- United States
- Year
- 1999
- Genres
- Adventure, Fantasy, Blockbuster, Action
- Running time
- 2h 4min
- Age rating
- 12+
- MPAA
- PG-13
- World premiere
- Apr 16, 1999
×5.2box office to budget
Ratings
MOVIE․ONE · 360 votesCreative team
All 10
Trivia
All facts 10
- The voice-over at the beginning of the film was originally intended to belong to Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), and director Stephen Sommers only much later noticed that an ancient Egyptian priest could not speak English and gave that honor to Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr).
- The first plans for a film that would be a loose remake of the 1932 picture starring Boris Karloff appeared with producer James Jacks back in 1992. At that time, Universal Pictures gave the project the green light on the condition that the budget would not exceed 10 million dollars, expecting to get a low-budget horror franchise. Clive Barker was invited to take the director's chair, but after several meetings with the studio management, both sides temporarily lost interest in the picture. George Romero was considered as the next candidate, but the producer and the studio deemed his style too scary for a wide audience.
- The studio's next choice was Joe Dante, who insisted on increasing the budget and wanted to invite Daniel Day-Lewis for the role of the mummy monster. In his version, the plot unfolded in the present day, focusing on reincarnation and the main love line. However, at that moment Universal Pictures was ready to splurge only 15 million dollars and rejected the director's proposed interpretation of the picture. Following this, Mick Harris was confirmed in the director's chair, but he soon dropped out of the project, and Wes Craven, who received an invitation, declined it. Only in 1997 did director Stephen Sommers propose to producer James Jacks his vision of the film, which found full support and understanding from the studio management, who had been replaced before that due to several major failures. The idea of a picture in the style of Indiana Jones and the classic adventure genre "Jason and the Argonauts" with a mummy as the main opponent of the heroes appealed to the studio so much that it agreed to increase costs from 15 to 80 million dollars.
- The role in the film (the prison warden who makes a deal with Evelyn) was the film debut of Iranian-born British actor and comedian Omid Djalili.
- During the scene where the crowd summoned by Imhotep chants in Ancient Egyptian, the extras began replacing their assigned line during rehearsals with "Ohwhatanarseyouare" – a vulgar remark in English. The same thing happened on the final take and made it into the final version of the film, going completely unnoticed by the crew.
- Brendan Fraser lost consciousness while filming the scene where his character is hanged and nearly died because the rope around his neck was pulled too tight.
Awards and nominations
1 win · 11 nominations
- 1 win Saturn Awards
- Best Makeup Saturn Awards · 2000
Also nominated Academy Awards1 MTV Movie & TV Awards1 BAFTA Awards1
Franchise
6-
1999
The Mummy
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The Mummy
1999
The Mummy
1999
The Mummy
1999