“The Mummy,” or according to some “Tom Cruise’s The Mummy,” has been having a rough ride at the domestic box office, where it hasn’t yet hit $60 million after two weeks in release. That’s not the kind of figure you want for a movie that’s launching a new franchise (Universal‘s Dark Universe), but internationally, it’s a whole different story. The film marked Cruise’s career-best opening abroad and is on its way to $300 million worldwide. However, will it be enough to put the film in the black? It doesn’t look like it.
Deadline has done some number crunching and based on a reasonable estimate that the film takes home $375 million worldwide once it all wraps up, it’s going to wind up with a net loss of $95 million. Ouch. The simple reason is that “The Mummy” was expensive, costing a total of $345 million when production costs and marketing are all added up. Yeah, we know that math doesn’t add and subtract to $95 million, but you have to remember that the studio only gets a fraction of ticket sales. So, bearing that in mind, “The Mummy” is expected to net $250 million total, and when you run that up against the $345 million cost, and you’re looking at a $95 million difference.
The film’s reportedly break-even number is $450 million, which it’s definitely not going to hit. And while Alex Kurtzman may proclaim he made a movie for audiences, and not for critics, it’s clear that neither group particularly cared for this movie, at least not in the numbers that will make Universal’s accountants happy.
