How Much Did It Cost Universal To Make ‘The Mummy’?

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are reportedly set to reunite for a follow up to 2001’s adventure movie The Mummy Returns and if Universal Pictures wants to make up for the misfire that was the 2017 reboot it may have to give it a monster of a budget.

Fraser and Weisz found fame in the Mummy series which debuted in 1999 and was a modern retelling of Universal’s 1932 horror classic starring Boris Karloff as the eponymous mummified Egyptian priest who is accidentally resurrected. South African actor Arnold Vosloo took over the mantle in the remake with Fraser and Weisz starring as a husband and wife team of 1920s treasure hunters pursuing him through the desert.

In stark contrast to the wobbly effects in the original, Stephen Sommers’ remake became famous for its terrifying computer-animated antagonist along with its rip-roaring plot and humor which gave it an air of the Indiana Jones films. It was just what audiences were looking for and opened domestically at number one before going on to gross $417.6 million worldwide.

The movie cemented Fraser’s status as a fast-talking quip-cracking action hero and made the 2001 sequel a foregone conclusion. It hauled in an impressive $443.3 million at the box office but the sparkle soon faded. In 2008 Fraser returned to the role in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which saw him battling an animated terracotta warrior played by Jet Li.

Weisz wisely decided not to sign on for the threequel which earned the lowest rating of the series on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Critics gave it a score of just 13% while audiences weren’t much more generous with a rating of 30%. It still earned $403.4 million at the box office but Universal could see that the fairytale was over.

The studio buried the franchise but in 2017 Tom Cruise unearthed it when he made a dark and moody Mummy movie which lacked the comedy and charm of Fraser’s outings. Following in the footsteps of the phenomenally-successful Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Cruise’s Mummy movie was designed to launch a series of interconnected adventures based on classic Universal monster characters. However, this so-called Dark Universe was not to be.

With a gross of $409.2 million, 2017’s The Mummy only just edged past its predecessor at the box office. It too was panned with critics and audiences rating it just 15% and 35% respectively according to Rotten Tomatoes. It came at quite a cost.

Unlike Fraser’s trilogy, this version of The Mummy was largely set in London and it was filmed there at the historic Pinewood and Shepperton studios. This shines a spotlight on its spending.

The cost of making movies in the United States is usually a closely-guarded secret as studios combine the spending on them in their overall expenses and don’t break out the budgets of each one in their filings. Movies made in the United Kingdom are a different story as studios set up separate companies for each production they make there as part of the process of getting up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country reimbursed through a cash tax credit.

The production companies are obliged to file financial statements showing the total cost of the production, not just the money they spent in the U.K. These companies have code names to stop them raising attention with fans when they file for permits to film on location as Cruise’s Mummy movie did in the historic city of Oxford.

The Universal subsidiary behind the movie was called Sarcophagus Films in a nod to the mummy’s temporary resting place. Its filings reveal that the studio spent a staggering $266.8 million (£203.6 million) on the movie which was a massive 36.8% higher than Deadline estimated. Nevertheless, the filings confirm that “the costs incurred by the company were as anticipated” and it doesn’t stop there.

The filings also reveal that Universal banked a $45.1 million (£34.6 million) tax credit bringing the studio’s net spending on the movie down to $221.7 million with one of the biggest single costs shown in the financial statements being the $15.9 million (£12.2 million) spent on staff.

They peaked at a monthly average of 226 employees which doesn’t include freelancers, contractors and temporary workers as they aren’t listed as employees on the books of U.K. companies but often represent the majority of the crew on a film shoot. Movie stars tend to be paid through companies they own which are contracted to provide their services so their costs aren’t usually shown in the financial statements.

Despite getting a helping hand from the U.K. authorities, The Mummy was far from a dream ticket. The amount theaters pay to studios is known in the trade as a rental fee and an indication of the typical level comes from film industry consultant Stephen Follows who interviewed 1,235 film professionals in 2014 and concluded that, according to studios, theaters keep 49% of the takings on average.

This research lends weight to a widely-established 50-50 split giving Universal $204.6 million from 2017’s The Mummy and an estimated $17.1 million loss at the box office after the studio’s net spending was deducted from its share of the takings.

It killed the chances of the Dark Universe getting off the ground and The Mummy franchise seemed to die with it. Until recently.

After years away from Hollywood battling personal issues and health problems Fraser bounced back with 2022’s The Whale which earned him the Oscar for best actor. It put him back in demand and yesterday Variety reported that he and Weisz will return to the franchise which made their names in a movie directed by the film-making duo behind Paramount’s 2022 revival of the Scream franchise. Universal declined to comment to the outlet but no doubt kept a close eye on the widespread approval on social media.

Production costs have sharply increased since 2017, especially following the new pay deal agreed after the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the new movie outspends its predecessor but if Fraser and Weisz can resurrect the fan fervour which surrounded their original movies it could still cast a powerful spell on Universal’s bottom line.