27 Years Later, Brendan Fraser's Fan-Favorite Action-Adventure Trilogy Is the Perfect Weekend Binge

Published Aug 14, 2026, 5:12 AM EDT Jeffrey is a freelance features writer at Collider. He is an MPA-accredited entertainment journalist and a Tomatometer-approved critic based in the LA area. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, TV, & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater. After almost two decades, Brendan Fraser is finally returning to his iconic role of Rick O'Connell in The Mummy franchise, with a fourth film planned for release in 2027. As fans eagerly await the next installment, the original 1999 movie is quietly soaring on HBO Max, and it's easy to see why. Although the 1999 movie was not well-liked by critics upon its release, it's since become a fan-favorite. The Mummy is an action-adventure masterpiece that's only gotten better with age — and with the film's sequels, 2001's The Mummy Returns and 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor also streaming on HBO Max, marathoning the trilogy is the perfect way to spend a weekend evening. 'The Mummy' Is the Best Spiritual Successor to 'Indiana Jones' Image via Universal Pictures Although The Mummy franchise began as a reboot of the classic 1932 horror movie, writer-director Stephen Sommers reinvented the Universal Monster series for modern-day audiences. Instead of a horror movie, Sommers re-envisioned the property as a high-octane action-adventure, full of romance, humor, and thrills. Rather than the Universal Monster movies, The Mummy took more of its cues from cinematic action serials of old, as well as films inspired by them like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' Indiana Jones. It proved to be a winning formula, as The Mummy thrilled audiences in theaters, grossing over $400 million worldwide and sparking a new blockbuster franchise for Universal Pictures. Many movies over the years attempted to mimic the unique formula Spielberg and Lucas crafted with Indiana Jones, but The Mummy came closest to achieving something similar. With its exceptional blend of action, comedy, romance, and a sprinkle of horror, The Mummy provided audiences with the perfect event movie of the year. The Mummy, in many ways, set the template that many blockbuster hopefuls would attempt to follow over the next decade. 'The Mummy' Blends the Old and the New In revisiting The Mummy 27 years after its original release, it's clear how splendidly well the movie mixes old-school cinematic techniques with cutting-edge-for-the-time visual effects. The 1990s saw an explosion of CG visual effects in major, big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, with various hits and misses. But The Mummy understood how to utilize emerging, bleeding-edge CGI effects, using them to enhance the story rather than detract from it. The amazing visuals, created by the legendary effects house Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), highlight the various stages of the movie's eponymous undead Mummy, Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), as he gradually regains his living flesh throughout the narrative. However, the movie's production still had top-of-the-line production values, making the world of The Mummy come off realistic and immersive, transporting viewers back to its 1926 setting. The movie was shot on location in Morocco for six weeks; the deserts and animals that appear in the movie are real. And the action set-pieces were shot on large-scale sets — for example, the memorable scene in the library where Evie knocks over a bookshelf, leading the shelves to topple like dominoes, was shot practically in one continuous take. Even though The Mummy uses modern CGI visuals, it didn't lose the ingenious cinematic spirit that gave birth to classics like the original Universal Monster movies of the 1930s. Newer blockbusters often look more synthetic and less immersive, but The Mummy brought a classic Hollywood style to the modern age in the late ‘90s. 'The Mummy' Is Elevated by Its Exceptional Leads Image via Universal Pictures Another aspect that elevates The Mummy viewing experience is its fabulous, talented leading actors, specifically the incredible and charismatic performances by Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell and Rachel Weisz as Evelyn "Evie" Carnahan. The two display amazing chemistry, and their romance is one of the highlights of the entire movie. Recently, blockbusters seem more skittish about employing cinematic romances — case in point, 2024's Twisters, a sequel to the iconic 1996 summer blockbuster, massively dials back the romance it sets up between its two leads portrayed by Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones. But Fraser and Weisz created natural, charming characters that moviegoers loved to root for and wanted to see get together by the end. Thankfully, rather than Sommers attempting to foolishly split the two up off-screen between movies, as sequels often do, their strong romantic chemistry carried over into the sequel, The Mummy Returns, in 2001. Fraser and Weisz would eventually achieve greater heights and acclaim post-Mummy, with both actors winning Academy Awards later in their careers: Weisz won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Constant Gardner in 2006; and Fraser won Best Actor for his critically acclaimed role in The Whale in 2023. The good news is that despite Weisz exiting the franchise with the greatly maligned third installment, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, where she was replaced by Maria Bello, both Weisz and Fraser are reprising their iconic roles for The Mummy 4. Weisz and Fraser getting back together onscreen will be key to the sequel's success, much as it was in the 1999 classic. The long-awaited sequel will hit theaters in October 2027, so now is the best possible time to revisit the original movies and get ready for the original stars' big-screen returns. The Mummy Release Date April 16, 1999 Runtime 124 minutes