The Tom Cruise Movie That Sank An Entire Franchise Has Become A Streaming Hit

Tom Cruise has been central to two massive film franchises: "Mission: Impossible" and "Top Gun." However, his star power wasn't enough to successfully kick-start another film franchise that crashed and ended after just one movie with Cruise as the lead. Film studio Universal Pictures attempted to begin its "Dark Universe" along the lines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in 2017 with the release of "The Mummy." It was a reboot of a franchise with roots dating as far back as 1932 — even before the popular adaptations featuring Brendan Fraser — and the studio roped in Cruise to play the lead role of Nick Morton, a U.S. Army sergeant. Unfortunately, "The Mummy" was a critical disaster and managed to take the studio's "Dark Universe" dreams down with it. 

However, nearly a decade after its release, "The Mummy" is seeing a resurgence on Netflix and has become a streaming hit. The movie has managed to find a place in the top 10 watched movies on Netflix in the U.S. for the second week. It was No. 7 in the top 10 movies for the week of November 2 to November 8, which saw multiple older titles dominate the Netflix movie charts, with "The Day After Tomorrow," a disaster movie from 2004, topping the list. "The Mummy" is the second 2017 Tom Cruise movie in a month to find love on streaming, following "American Made."

Besides Tom Cruise, "The Mummy" stars Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, and Sofia Boutella. It was directed by Alex Kurtzman, who is also known for producing all modern Star Trek live-action as well as animated shows and directing the 2012 drama-comedy "People Like Us."

Universal had high hopes for "The Mummy," considering it was the first film in its "Dark Universe," which would have featured various characters from the Universal Classic Monsters stable, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Count Dracula, and Frankenstein's monster. However, even before the Tom Cruise film debuted on the big screen, it was largely panned by critics, with only a select few giving it a positive rating. It currently stands at a 15% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 315 reviews, and it has a 34 out of 100 score on Metacritic, based on 44 reviews. Audience feedback wasn't great either, and it earned a B- on CinemaScore and has only managed to reach a 35% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It also didn't fare much better on the financial front, earning just over $400 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo, on an estimated production and marketing spend of $345 million. Remember, studios and distributors only get a part of box office earnings, with the rest going to theaters.

Universal had planned several movies, such as "Bride of Frankenstein," "The Invisible Man," "Frankenstein," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and "Van Helsing," in its Dark Universe; however, the failure of "The Mummy" resulted in the cancellation of these projects. "The Invisible Man" did release as a standalone movie in 2020; however, it didn't feature Johnny Depp, who was originally associated with it in the "Dark Universe" era. That said, unlike "The Mummy," it's loved by critics and is considered an underrated sci-fi remake.