The Mummy (franchise)

The Mummy is a media franchise encompassing a series of adventure and fantasy films, television series, animated series, video games, comic books, and related merchandise inspired by the 1932 Universal Studios film The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff.

The core of the franchise revolves around the reanimation of ancient Egyptian mummies, typically high priests or pharaohs, who bring curses and chaos into the modern world. Characters such as Imhotep (in the original series and the 1999 remake), and other mummified antagonists, are commonly resurrected and must be stopped by intrepid adventurers and archaeologists.

The most commercially successful installments are the Mummy trilogy starring Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell and Rachel Weisz (later Maria Bello) as Evelyn Carnahan/Evy O'Connell. These films, released in 1999, 2001, and 2008, combined action, adventure, horror, and comedic elements, appealing to a wide audience. These films spawned spin-offs such as The Scorpion King film series.

The franchise has seen attempts at reboots and expansions, with varying degrees of success. A 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise was intended to launch a "Dark Universe" shared cinematic universe of classic Universal Monsters, but the project was ultimately unsuccessful and plans for further films were abandoned.

Common themes throughout the franchise include ancient curses, the exploration of archaeological sites, the clash between the ancient world and the modern era, and the struggle to contain supernatural forces unleashed by the resurrection of mummies. The franchise frequently draws upon elements of Egyptian mythology and folklore, adapted and fictionalized for entertainment purposes.