Is Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Secretly Setting Up Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy 4?

So, here we go again: another Mummy movie is coming to theaters. And if you hear that and immediately picture Brendan Fraser running from sandy undead chaos with Rachel Weisz, I get it — that 1999 film practically defined the monster for a whole generation. But, just to make things weird, the new film isn’t starring Fraser, has nothing to do with Universal’s franchise, and is such a different beast you’d honestly be forgiven for thinking it’s just another reboot, like 2017’s Tom Cruise head-scratcher.

But wait — it actually gets messier. Because news is out that Fraser and Weisz ARE coming back for a proper Mummy 4, but THAT’S a completely different movie arriving in a couple years. So what’s this new one showing up first, who’s behind it, and why does it look like Monster Movie Month at your local cinema? Let’s sort this out, because even the people making these things seem a little rattled.

Two Mummies, No Connection: This Isn’t Universal’s Mummy

First off, the new film — officially titled Lee Cronin’s The Mummy — is not connected to Universal Pictures. In fact, it’s being put out by Warner Bros. and produced by Blumhouse, who you know from horror hits like The Invisible Man and their upcoming werewolf flick Wolf Man. But don’t let that shared horror DNA fool you: Universal’s nowhere near this project.

As for Lee Cronin’s approach, he’s cranking up the horror and leaving behind almost everything familiar about the old-school Universal Mummy films — no high adventure, no Fraser, no camp, and none of the 1930s Egyptology. This is the same Cronin who directed Evil Dead Rise, so you know he likes his monsters scary, not friendly. If you’re imagining Boris Karloff shambling through the desert, or even Tom Cruise fighting New Gods, think again.

Just to be extra clear (because even the folks at Blumhouse have been saying this on social media again and again), Brendan Fraser is not in this movie. If you want Fraser, stay tuned for Universal’s The Mummy 4. Lee Cronin’s film is entirely its own thing. Here’s the big reason for the confusion: any studio can make a ‘mummy’ movie, as long as they don’t rip off the specific Universal characters or storylines. Warner Bros. is just the latest to jump in — if you dig deep enough, you’ll see Hammer Horror did their own set of Mummy movies back in the late 1950s and 1960s for exactly the same reason.

Did Warner Bros. Force Universal to Dig Up Mummy 4?

Why is all this happening NOW? Basically, the Tom Cruise version in 2017 tanked hard and nuked Universal’s plans for their so-called Dark Universe (yep, that was a thing), so Mummy movies at Universal got put on the shelf. Meanwhile, they were happy to crank out weird spins on their other monsters (see: The Invisible Man, Abigail, Renfield).

Sensing a gap, Lee Cronin pitched a totally fresh, low-budget Mummy to Warner Bros. and New Line (his partners from Evil Dead Rise). By summer 2024, Warner Bros. locked in a release date: April 17, 2026. But they didn’t reveal it was The Mummy until later that year — which is when the confusion with Universal really started.

And here’s a fun twist: Blumhouse, the horror factory that made The Invisible Man for Universal, actually produced this Mummy for Warner Bros. too, thanks in part to their merger with James Wan’s Atomic Monster (the Conjuring people). That probably didn’t help the brand confusion, so Blumhouse had to jump online more than once telling people: 'No, this isn’t Fraser’s Mummy. Set your expectations accordingly.'

Universal, watching Warner Bros. ready a freaky new Mummy, clearly decided they needed to remind everybody where the real "O'Connell Adventure" flavor was. So, Mummy 4 got yanked out of cold storage — way after Warner Bros. went public with their Cronin project. By November 2025, Universal confirmed it was game-on, bringing back Fraser and Weisz, with Abigail directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett directing. Not long after Warner Bros. dropped a trailer for Cronin’s film in January 2026, Universal locked in Mummy 4 for May 19, 2028.

If You Only Read One List In This Article: Mummy Movie Timeline

• 2017: Tom Cruise goes monster hunting in Universal’s The Mummy. It flops; franchise dies.
• 2024 (summer): Warner Bros. quietly sets Lee Cronin’s next horror movie for April 2026 — but doesn’t tell anyone it’s The Mummy yet.
• 2024 (end of year): News breaks that Cronin’s next movie is a new, scary spin on The Mummy — and it’s a Warner Bros./Blumhouse project.
• 2025 (November): Universal wakes up, hires directors for The Mummy 4, and promises they’ll bring back Fraser and Weisz for a true legacy sequel.
• 2026 (January): First teaser trailer for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy debuts (no connection to Fraser or Universal’s continuity).
• 2026 (February): Universal officially announces the legacy sequel — The Mummy 4 starring Fraser and Weisz, opening May 2028.

TL;DR: Two Mummy Movies, Not in the Same Sarcophagus

Here’s the bottom line: Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (Warner Bros.) and The Mummy 4 (Universal, starring Fraser and Weisz) have zero story connection and might as well be from different time periods. If you want horror, go see Cronin’s take. If you want adventure, nostalgia, and Brendan Fraser’s O'Connell back in action, you’ll be waiting for 2028. Warner Bros. even slapped 'Lee Cronin’s' name on the movie to avoid confusion, which is usually reserved for directors like Del Toro — a nice touch, or maybe just a desperate attempt to keep Twitter from melting down.

The real surprise isn’t that we’re getting two Mummy movies at once — it’s that people seem way more confused about this than when we get dueling Draculas, Frankensteins, or Batman flicks. Maybe it’s the near-mythical status of the 1999 Fraser/Weisz version? Or maybe audiences just really don’t want a repeat of Tom Cruise’s sandstorm fever dream.

As one studio insider put it:

'No, Brendan Fraser is not in this movie, and this isn't connected to the Universal Monsters.'

See you at the concession stand, where hopefully they’ll label which Mummy you’re watching.