On This Day in 1999: This Hit Film Premiered and Redefined the Action-Horror Genre

When Stephen Sommers was brought on to write the screenplay and direct The Mummy, it was quite a change from what he'd been doing. At the time, he was best known in Hollywood as the guy who wrote and directed the Disney films The Jungle Book and The Adventures of Huck Finn. However, Sommers had loved the 1932 film ever since he was 8 years old, and he jumped at the chance to help bring it to modern audiences.

"Universal had been trying to remake the [Boris] Karloff movie for nine years when I got on, and it was going to be a low-budget horror movie set in modern-day," Sommers told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024. After contacting the film's producers, he secured a meeting with Universal Studios. Within an hour of pitching his screenplay idea, he was informed that they wanted to hire him.

The next step was hiring the lead actors. At the time, Brendan Fraser was best known for goofy comedies, like George of the Jungle and Encino Man -- far from heroic, tough guy Rick O'Connell. American audiences knew Rachel Weisz from supporting roles in Chain Reaction and Stealing Beauty. While rumors claimed that others were asked first, Sommers disputed that.

"Recently, I read an article saying that we went out to Tom Cruise and then Brad Pitt," he said. "I'm like, 'No, we only went to Brendan.' Brendan loved it right away." As for the lead actress, when given other choices, Weisz was the obvious pick.

"The studio had a list of actresses like Ashley Judd and other young American actresses," I said, 'They're all American. She should be English.' So Rachel was the gal, and off we went."

The Mummy captured audiences' hearts and changed fans' perception of the action-horror genre. It grossed more than $417 million worldwide on an $80 million budget, surpassing everyone's expectations and spawning two sequels. Thanks to the film's enduring appeal, Fraser and Weisz are even reuniting 27 years after the first film to make The Mummy 4.

This time around, the film will be directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also directed 2022's Scream and Scream VI.

"It's not lost on us that we are inheriting now another truly wonderful franchise," Gillett told Entertainment Weekly. "We just are so humbled and so grateful to get to continue on."

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 5:00 AM.