Poster © Universal Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Fantasy
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 4 mins
ReleasedMay 7, 1999
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorStephen Sommers
StarringBrendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah
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The Mummy (1999)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Mummy's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Fantasy |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 05/07/1999 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 4 mins |
| Budget | $80M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Arabic, Egyptian |
| The Mummy's Interests | |
| General | Puzzle boxes, scarab beetles, camels, ancient books, rolling library ladders. |
| Music | Jerry Goldsmith. Big, brassy, desert-sized adventure. |
| Movies | The Mummy Returns (2001). Same family, more sand, plus Dwayne Johnson. |
| Television | The Mummy: The Animated Series. Rick and Evy, now in cartoon form. |
| Heroes | Evelyn Carnahan. Proud librarian, terrible with bookshelves. |
| The Mummy's Crew | |
| Director | Stephen Sommers |
| Writers | Stephen Sommers, Stephen Sommers (story), Lloyd Fonvielle (story), Kevin Jarre (story) |
| Producers | James Jacks, Sean Daniel |
| Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
| Music | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Edited By | Bob Ducsay |
| Production | Universal Pictures Alphaville Films |
| Distributed By | Universal Pictures |
Bread left in a sarcophagus has aged better than the CGI in The Mummy. Imhotep’s half-built face was cutting edge once and now looks like a clay model left out in the rain, and the plot is basically a treasure map with jokes scribbled in the margins. Doesn’t matter. Brendan Fraser is the most charming man to ever solve every problem by shooting at it. Rachel Weisz knocks over an entire library in her first scene and makes it adorable. John Hannah plays her brother like a guy who’d sell you a fake map and then apologize for it. It’s an old Saturday matinee serial with a reported $80 million budget, and it made $417.6 million worldwide. Critics shrugged and the movie.guru score sits at 5.3, but this one’s going higher. A 7.0 because charm beats polish every time, and this cast has charm to spare. $717 says you end up defending this one to somebody who only ever saw the Tom Cruise version.
What works: Brendan Fraser’s goofy action-hero charm, Rachel Weisz’s bookish energy, and a fun old-school adventure pace.
What doesn’t: The computer effects on Imhotep and the scarabs look dated now, and the plot is thin once you look past the jokes.
Who it’s for: People who want an Indiana Jones-style ride with more jokes and fewer history lessons.
Spoilers
Evy reads from the Book of the Dead and wakes Imhotep, then later reads from the Book of Amun-Ra to make him mortal again so Rick can finish him off. Beni gets trapped in the collapsing city with his loot, and the heroes ride off with a camel’s worth of treasure Jonathan grabbed on the way out.
Cairo, 1926. Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) is a brilliant, clumsy librarian who dreams of finding Hamunaptra, the lost City of the Dead. Her charming, unreliable brother Jonathan (John Hannah) turns up with a puzzle box hiding a map. The only guy who has actually been there is Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), an ex-Foreign Legion soldier currently stuck in a Cairo prison. Evy gets him out, and they head into the desert, racing a rival crew of American treasure hunters. Somewhere under the sand, the cursed priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) has been waiting for three thousand years. Stephen Sommers directs. One hundred twenty-five minutes, plenty of sand.
Librarians with a taste for adventure. Please don't knock over the shelves.
| Brendan Fraser | Rick O'Connell |
| Rachel Weisz | Evelyn Carnahan |
| John Hannah | Jonathan Carnahan |
| Arnold Vosloo | Imhotep |
| Kevin J. O'Connor | Beni Gabor |
| Jonathan Hyde | Dr. Allen Chamberlain |
| Oded Fehr | Ardeth Bay |
| Erick Avari | Dr. Terence Bey |
| Stephen Dunham | Isaac Henderson |
| Corey Johnson | David Daniels |
| Tuc Watkins | Bernard Burns |
| Omid Djalili | Warden Gad Hassan |
| Aharon Ipalé | Pharaoh Seti I |
| Bernard Fox | Captain Winston Havelock |
| Patricia Velásquez | Anck-su-namun |
| Carl Chase | Hook |
| Mohammed Afifi | hangman |
| Abderrahim El Aadili | camel guide |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (510,678 votes) → 7.1 / 10 (510,758 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $417.6M; Domestic box office $157.1M; Opening weekend $43.4M; Profit / loss (est.) +$88.8M; Rotten Tomatoes 64%; CinemaScore B; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 64% (107 reviews); Metacritic 49 / 100; CinemaScore B; IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (510,678 votes); movie.guru score 5.3.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.