The Mummy Returns: A New Film Signals Shift from Multiverse Fatigue
The announcement this week that Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are set to return in a new Mummy film for the first time in a quarter of a century feels like Hollywood emerging from a prolonged and disorienting party. Their last collaboration was in 2001 with The Mummy Returns, a lacklustre sequel to the superior 1999 original. Since then, the franchise has seen a spin-off, 2002's The Scorpion King featuring Dwayne Johnson, and a forgettable 2008 sequel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, without Weisz.
The Failed Dark Universe Experiment
Then came the ill-fated "Dark Universe," immortalised by a solemn publicity photo of stars like Russell Crowe, Javier Bardem, Tom Cruise, and Johnny Depp, resembling an ageing goth supergroup. This plan aimed to launch an interconnected saga with Jekyll as a monster-movie Nick Fury, uniting classic horror icons in a Marvel-style cinematic ecosystem. It quickly collapsed when 2017's Cruise-led The Mummy flopped spectacularly. Universal shifted to smaller films like Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man, leaving Bardem's Monster and Depp's Invisible Man unrealised.
Reverting to Linear Storytelling
Now, Universal appears to be reverting to a pre-2010s era where movies often featured clear, linear stories with natural conclusions. With no other clear plans for The Mummy, this move is understandable. Fraser is enjoying a career resurgence after Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, and Weisz has remained consistently prominent. The original Fraser-Weisz Mummy filled a gap left by Steven Spielberg's reluctance to make more Indiana Jones films, and this belated sequel debuts as the Indiana Jones series seems buried after Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny received a lukewarm response.
Is the Cinematic Universe Era Ending?
Is the era of cinematic universes coming to an end? Sony's Spider-Man-without-Spider-Man experiment has faded away, and The Flash felt more like DC's continuity collapsing than a triumphant multiverse adventure. While Marvel Studios continues, whispers suggest the next Avengers films may serve as a narrative reset. Audiences don't inherently hate cinematic universes but grow disgruntled when studios announce entire multiversal sagas before the first film's credits roll. Marvel's early success with Iron Man in 2008 involved careful planning, but now, after nearly two decades, the studio faces diminishing box office returns and multiverse fatigue from overcomplicating stories for casual viewers.
The Radical Promise of Narrative Closure
This context makes the prospect of a new Mummy film feel faintly radical. It promises no extended monster roll-call, no roadmap presentations disguised as narrative, and no solemn announcements of future crossovers. Instead, it offers a brisk, pulpy adventure with attractive characters sprinting towards danger, exchanging flirtatious barbs, and resolving central problems. In 1999, this was simply called a blockbuster; by 2026, it may qualify as niche programming. The lesson beneath Universal's strategic retreat is that audiences didn't revolt against interconnected storytelling but grew weary of being conscripted into it. The connective tissue became the point, overshadowing the structure and turning crossovers into homework. A Fraser-Weisz reunion, by contrast, promises something almost unfashionable: narrative closure. If it succeeds, it won't be due to resurrecting an old property but to reviving the idea that a story can simply conclude.
