The Mummy Box Office: Budget and Gross for Every Film

The Mummy film series has six theatrical films, and Box Office Mojo lists a worldwide gross for five of them. The Mummy (1932) is the Universal original, directed by Karl Freund, and no budget or gross is recorded for it. The main saga is The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). The other spin-offs are The Scorpion King (2002) and The Mummy (2017). Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) is a separate film and sits outside this series. For the full viewing sequence, see the mummy movies in order.

The Mummy (1999), directed by Stephen Sommers, cost $80 million to make. It took $157 million in the United States and $261 million overseas, for $418 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Sommers returned for The Mummy Returns (2001), which had a $98 million budget and grossed $203 million domestically and $241 million internationally. That makes $444 million worldwide, the biggest figure the series has recorded.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), directed by Rob Cohen, carried the largest budget of the main films at $145 million. Box Office Mojo credits it with $102 million domestic, $301 million international and $403 million worldwide. The Numbers lists different budget and gross figures for this film, so the exact margin depends on which database you trust.

The Scorpion King (2002), directed by Chuck Russell and starring Dwayne Johnson, cost $60 million and grossed $91 million domestically and $90 million internationally, for $181 million worldwide. The Mummy (2017), directed by Alex Kurtzman and starring Tom Cruise, had a $125 million budget according to Box Office Mojo. It earned $80 million at home and $329 million overseas, for $409 million worldwide. The Numbers lists a $195 million budget for the 2017 film, which is a large gap.

Brendan Fraser led all three main films, while Cruise headlined only the 2017 film.

The Mummy Returns (2001) is the highest grossing film in the series, and it is also the most efficient of the main three after The Mummy (1999) is set aside on multiples. Its $444 million worldwide on a $98 million budget is a multiple of about 4.5, against about 5.2 for The Mummy (1999) and about 2.8 for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). A gross multiple is not profit, since marketing costs and theater splits are not counted, but it shows which film scaled best. In my opinion, the 2001 film is the high point because it kept Fraser and Rachel Weisz at the center and introduced Dwayne Johnson as the Scorpion King, his debut in the role, which led to The Scorpion King following in 2002 as a spin-off.

Where did the audience come from? The domestic share tells a clear story. By my arithmetic from the Box Office Mojo figures, the United States supplied about 38 percent of the 1999 film's gross and about 46 percent of the 2001 sequel's. For The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) it fell to about 25 percent, and for The Mummy (2017) to about 20 percent. It could be argued that the later films leaned more on overseas ticket buyers. That being said, both finished well below the 2001 peak, so a wide international reach did not lift them past it.

The 2008 film is the cautionary case. It had the biggest budget of the three main films, lost Weisz (Maria Bello took over as Evelyn O'Connell, as Variety reported), and still grossed less than either earlier film. Perhaps the saga had run its course after seven years away, though that is speculation rather than a documented cause. The 2017 reboot is harder to call. At $409 million worldwide on Box Office Mojo's $125 million budget it looks respectable, but if The Numbers' $195 million budget is closer to the truth, the margin is far thinner. Its $80 million domestic gross is the lowest of the five films with recorded figures.

The next entry has a clear number to beat. The Mummy: Book of the Dead, directed by Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett), is set for a US release on October 15, 2027, with Fraser and Weisz returning, as Variety reported. Universal first announced May 19, 2028, then moved the film up. To see how the older films stack up, check the mummy movies ranked for our verdicts, and the hub for the whole saga. My pick for the figure to watch is $444 million, the 2001 mark.