The Mummy Movies in Order: Release and Chronological

The Mummy movies in order of release run across six films from 1932 to 2017, and a seventh, The Mummy: Book of the Dead, is scheduled for October 15, 2027. The three Brendan Fraser films and the Scorpion King spinoff sit in the middle, and the two bookends are separate takes on the same creature. (Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2026) is a different film and not part of this series.)

1. The Mummy (1932), directed by Karl Freund, with Boris Karloff as Imhotep (spinoff).
2. The Mummy (1999), directed by Stephen Sommers, with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz (main film).
3. The Mummy Returns (2001), directed by Stephen Sommers (main film).
4. The Scorpion King (2002), directed by Chuck Russell, with Dwayne Johnson (spinoff).
5. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), directed by Rob Cohen (main film).
6. The Mummy (2017), directed by Alex Kurtzman, with Tom Cruise (spinoff).
7. The Mummy: Book of the Dead (October 15, 2027), directed by Radio Silence (upcoming).

The oldest entry is The Mummy (1932), a 73 minute Universal film directed by Karl Freund in which Boris Karloff plays the priest Imhotep. It begins with a British expedition in Egypt in 1921, where a young assistant named Ralph Norton reads the Scroll of Thoth aloud and wakes the mummy. The later films have their own casts and characters, so the 1932 picture works as a standalone starting point rather than a required first chapter.

The main run begins with The Mummy (1999), which Stephen Sommers made with Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan and Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep. It earned about $418 million worldwide on an $80 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. The Mummy Returns followed in 2001 with a bigger budget of $98 million and a worldwide gross of $444 million, the highest in the series for any film with a listed figure. It also introduced Dwayne Johnson as Mathayus, and that character carried straight into The Scorpion King in 2002.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor arrived in 2008 with Rob Cohen directing, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh joining the ensemble, and Maria Bello in the role of Evelyn after Rachel Weisz did not return, as Variety reported. The Mummy (2017) is a spinoff with Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, Sofia Boutella as the mummy Ahmanet and Russell Crowe as Henry Jekyll.

If you want the version with the spinoff, the order is The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King and Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. If you only want Brendan Fraser, who stars in all three main films, watch The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns and Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and skip the rest.

The next film, The Mummy: Book of the Dead, received its official title on October 15, 2026, and Variety reported that Universal moved it from May 19, 2028 to October 15, 2027. Radio Silence is directing from a script by David Coggeshall, and The A.V. Club reported that Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Kevin J. O'Connor and Oded Fehr are returning. Plot details have not been disclosed. The latest on the mummy 4 changes as production news arrives, and the full series overview sits on the the mummy movies hub.

If you are new to the series, I would start with The Mummy (1999) and then follow release order, because that film sets the tone, the cast and the creature rules that the next two main films build on. Think of it like starting a television series at the pilot: you can jump in later, but the first episode explains why everyone is there.

So, what comes after? In my opinion, The Mummy Returns is the natural second film since it picks up the O'Connell family and introduces Mathayus, and its $444 million worldwide gross, according to Box Office Mojo, is the highest in the series for any film with a listed figure. The Scorpion King is the film I would treat as optional, mainly for viewers who liked Dwayne Johnson as Mathayus and want a desert adventure with no mummy in sight. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor then closes the Fraser run, and it could be argued that its change of setting to China is a fair trade for a different kind of monster, even though Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, as Variety reported.

Where do the other two films fit? Perhaps the best use of The Mummy (1932) is as a short history lesson, because at 73 minutes it is easy to fit into one evening and, in my opinion, Boris Karloff's Imhotep is the reference point that later versions of the creature get measured against. The Mummy (2017) is a different animal altogether, a Tom Cruise action film built around Ahmanet as a creature feature, and I would watch it last so that it does not color your view of the Fraser films.

If you want a quick pick, watch The Mummy (1999) tonight. When you are ready for a verdict across the whole series, the mummy movies ranked has my full list, and where to watch the mummy shows the streams.