The Mummy director brands Tom Cruise reboot ‘the biggest failure of my life’

‘There’s about a million things I regret about it, but it also gave me so many gifts that are inexpressibly beautiful,’ said filmmaker Alex Kurtzman

The director of the 2017 version of The Mummy has described the film as “the biggest failure of my life”.

The film starred Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, an adventurer who unearths the tomb inhabited by the mummy, played by Sofia Boutella.

Originally intended to form part of a shared “Dark Universe” of films centring on various Classic Universal Monsters characters, 2017’s The Mummy was a critical and commercial disappointment.

After the film flopped at the box office, Universal’s planned “Dark Universe” was abandoned.

Speaking on the Bingeworthy podcast, director Alex Kurtzman reflected on the film’s legacy.

“I tend to subscribe to the point of view that you learn nothing from your successes, and you learn everything from your failures,” he said. “And [The Mummy] was probably the biggest failure of my life, both personally and professionally.

“There’s about a million things I regret about it, but it also gave me so many gifts that are inexpressibly beautiful. I didn’t become a director until I made that movie, and it wasn’t because it was well-directed – it was because it wasn’t.”

Describing the experience as “brutal”, Kurtzman also made reference to there being “many cooks in the kitchen” during the making of the film.

Tom Cruise in ‘The Mummy’ (Universal City Studios)

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to make those mistakes because it rebuilt me into a tougher person, and it also rebuilt me into a clearer filmmaker,” he continued.

“And that has been a real gift, and I feel those gifts all the time because I’m very clear now when I have a feeling that doesn’t feel right. I am not quiet about it anymore. I will literally not proceed when I feel that feeling. It’s not worth it to me. And you can’t get to that place of gratitude until you’ve had that kind of experience.”

The film has a 16 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.