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The Mummy is a 1999 American action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo as the reanimated mummy. It is a remake of the 1932 film and part of the larger Universal Monsters franchise. The film follows adventurer and treasure hunter Rick O'Connell as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with librarian Evelyn Carnahan and her older brother Jonathan, where they accidentally awaken Imhotep, a cursed high priest with supernatural powers.
Development took years, with multiple screenplays and directors attached. In 1997, Sommers successfully pitched his version of a more adventurous and romantic take on the source material. Filming took place in Morocco and the United Kingdom; the crew endured dehydration, sandstorms, and snakes shooting on location in the Sahara Desert. Industrial Light & Magic provided many of the visual effects, blending live-action footage and computer-generated imagery to create the titular monster. Jerry Goldsmith composed the orchestral score.
The Mummy was theatrically released on May 7, 1999, by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed critical reviews but grossed $422.5 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1999. The film started a new franchise, with two direct sequels, The Mummy Returns in 2001 and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 2008, and various spinoffs such as an animated series which ran from 2001 to 2003, and the prequel The Scorpion King in 2002, which led to sequels of its own. In 2017, an attempt was made to start another Universal Monsters franchise with The Mummy starring Tom Cruise. In November 2025, a new sequel featuring Fraser and Weisz was announced, to be directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence Productions.[4][5]
Plot
In Thebes, Egypt, 1290 BC, the high priest Imhotep has an affair with Pharaoh Seti I's mistress and future bride Anck-su-namun. The pair kill the Pharaoh after he discovers the pair's transgressions. When the Pharaoh's bodyguards, the Medjai, arrive, Anck-su-namun takes her own life while Imhotep flees. Imhotep and his priests steal her corpse and travel to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, to conduct a ritual to resurrect her, but the Medjai intervene. As punishment, Imhotep's priests are mummified alive, while Imhotep himself is cursed and buried alive with flesh-eating scarabs. The Medjai are sworn to prevent Imhotep's return, as his resurrection would grant him immense power.
In 1926 AD Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt, Jonathan Carnahan presents his sister, Evelyn—a librarian and aspiring Egyptologist working for museum curator Dr. Terence Bey—with an intricate box and map that lead to Hamunaptra, the existence of which is now considered a myth along with the treasures believed to reside there. Jonathan reveals he stole the box from American adventurer and treasure hunter Rick O'Connell, who discovered the city while in the French Foreign Legion three years earlier. Evelyn bargains with corrupt prison warden Gad Hassan to free an incarcerated Rick, in exchange for the American leading them to Hamunaptra where she hopes to find the golden Book of Amun-Ra, which is believed to be buried inside the statue of Anubis.
The group soon finds themselves competing with another expedition, guided by Rick's cowardly fellow former Legionnaire Beni Gabor. They are repeatedly intercepted by Medjai, whose leader Ardeth Bay cautions them to leave. They ignore Bay's warnings; the two expeditions continue to dig through the ruins, resulting in numerous fatalities that include Hassan being killed by a scarab he inadvertently releases, as well as some workers who are melted by an acid trap that was intentionally left behind to deter future excavation. Both expeditions come into conflict over a statue which is believed to hold the golden book. Within the statue of Anubis, however, the competing groups come across the Book of the Dead as well as five canopic jars, while Evelyn, Rick, and Jonathan accidentally discover Imhotep's mummified remains.
That night, Evelyn steals the Book of the Dead from the rival camp, accidentally awakening the mummified Imhotep when she reads the text contained within. Following a confrontation with the now resurrected Imhotep as well as the Medjai, the expeditions flee back to Cairo. Imhotep spares Beni's life to serve as a translator in exchange for treasure when the mummy realises that he can speak Hebrew.
Imhotep follows the expeditions back to Cairo and unleashes the biblical Plagues of Egypt. Those who discovered the Book of the Dead and the five canopic jars that preserve Anck-su-namun's vital organs are hunted and killed by Imhotep, restoring his human form and strengthening his power. Attempting to find answers at the museum, the survivors instead find Ardeth being hosted by Dr. Bey, a fellow Medji. The group surmises that Imhotep desires to resurrect Anck-su-namun using Evelyn as a human sacrifice, and that the only way to stop him is to return to Hamunaptra and find the Book of Amun-Ra, which is actually buried inside the statue of Horus. The group are soon cornered by Imhotep and a now enthralled city populace, which results in Evelyn's capture while Dr. Bey sacrifices himself to allow the others to escape.
The remaining three convince Rick's old friend, Royal Air Force Captain Winston Havelock, to fly them to Hamunaptra. Imhotep conjures a magical sandstorm, crashing their plane and killing Havelock. After reaching the city on foot, Rick and Jonathan find the Book of Amun-Ra, while Ardeth is overwhelmed fighting Imhotep's resurrected servants. Jonathan and Rick reach the ritual chamber, where Rick frees Evelyn, and Jonathan uses the book to control the resurrected servants, leading to the death of a partially resurrected Anck-su-namun. Evelyn then uses the book to make Imhotep mortal, allowing Rick to fatally impale him; Imhotep decomposes back to his mummified form as he sinks into a pool of liquid, swearing vengeance in the process.
Meanwhile, Beni, who had been pilfering treasure from Hamunaptra, inadvertently triggers a booby-trap, causing the city to start collapsing. Rick, Evie and Jonathan escape while Beni is buried inside and devoured by scarabs. Outside, the group discover Ardeth survived, and he bids them farewell as they depart, unknowingly with some of Beni's plundered loot.
Cast
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