Tom Cruise has had a lot of box-office hits, but one of the actor’s most impressive box-office feats was also one of his few career failures. Although Tom Cruise got his start acting in a variety of critically acclaimed films from well-known directors, the actor has spent the last few decades sticking to well-known franchises and big-budget action movies, with recent projects like Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher, and the Mission: Impossible franchise giving him his modern reputation. Tom Cruise once tried to add another major action franchise to this list, with it being one of his biggest failures.
Over the past few years, Tom Cruise has become certified box office gold, with it having been a long time since he had a massive failure. Top Gun: Maverick is one of the biggest box office hits in recent memory, with some saying that it saved the box office after the COVID-19 Pandemic. Meanwhile, the previous two Mission: Impossible films have been considered to be some of the best action movies of all time, and they have Tom Cruise to thank for that. However, these recent successes have made many forget about Tom Cruise’s biggest franchise failure from 2017.
The Mummy Did Fine At The Box Office (But The Dark Universe Still Failed)
The Mummy Was The Only Film In The Franchise
Although Tom Crusie has had a lot of hits throughout his career, one recent film is notable for being an exception to this rule: 2017’s The Mummy. The new take on the classic Universal monster movie saw Tom Cruise take up the role of the protagonist in an all-new Mummy adventure, setting the stage for the actor to play a big part in a much larger franchise. There were plans for all kinds of sequels and spinoffs after The Mummy, with the 2017 film being the first planned entry in Universal’s Dark Universe franchise. However, The Mummy wasn’t exactly what it needed to be.
Upon getting released, reviews for 2017’s The Mummy were incredibly negative, with the film currently sitting at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics claimed that the movie was hard to follow, derivative, and full of forced set-ups for future Dark Universe movies, with some even saying that it was one of the worst films of the year. Despite its negative reception, The Mummy surprisingly managed to be a box office hit. The film made $410 million on a budget of around $125-$195 million, meaning that it was probably profitable, something that many didn’t expect after the harsh critical reception.
While reviews were bad, the financial success of The Mummy made it seem like plans for the Dark Universe would continue. Plans had already been announced for characters like the Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the last of whom appeared in The Mummy played by Russell Crowe. However, Universal announced in 2019 that it would be moving away from the shared universe, with it instead working on stand-alone monster movies like 2020’s The Invisible Man, 2024’s Universal, and 2025’s Wolf Man.
The Mummy’s Solid Box Office Despite The Reviews Confirmed Cruise’s Star Power
It Proves How Powerful Tom Cruise Is
Most movies that were received as poorly as The Mummy would be doomed to box office failure, but the 2017 film actually managed to break this trend. The Mummy franchise wasn’t a guaranteed box office hit at the time, with the unexpected success of the film most likely being due to Tom Crusie. Tom Cruise’s role in The Mummy was the most heavily advertised part of the movie, with the film being a star vehicle for him. The Dark Universe was setting Tom Cruise up to be one of its main characters, with this having a big role in The Mummy’s success.
The financial success of The Mummy only proves that Tom Cruise has major star power. The Mummy proved that audiences will show up for Cruise in an action movie despite poor reviews, with the lack of Tom Cruise in other Dark Universe films potentially being one of the reasons that Universal wasn’t confident enough to continue the franchise. Even for a bad film like The Mummy, Tom Cruise turned it into a hit, with good movies that star the actor like Top Gun: Maverick later showing the full potential of the actor’s incredible star power.