‘The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in that film, was fun,’ Fraser said

Brendan Fraser has explained why he thinks Tom Cruise’s 2017 The Mummy reboot flopped.

The 53-year-old actor, who played the role of Rick O’Connell in the original film The Mummy and its two sequels, said that Cruise’s reboot of the film “was too much of a straight-ahead horror”.

In his cover story with Variety, Fraser said that “it is hard to make that movie”.

“The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in that film, was fun,” he said of Cruise’s critically derided film. “That was what was lacking in that incarnation.

“It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. The Mummy should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary.”

He added: “I know how difficult it is to pull it off. I tried to do it three times.”

Speaking of whether he would ever consider returning to The Mummy franchise, Fraser said: “I don’t know how it would work.

“But I’d be open to it if someone came up with the right conceit.”

(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Fraser-led Mummy franchise was a massive success, with the 1999 film out-grossing the 2017 film even when its numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation.

Even the lowest-grossing movie in Fraser’s trilogy, The Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, scared up a worldwide total of $403m.

Cruise’s The Mummy, on the other hand, received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $410m worldwide, losing as much as $95m due to high production and marketing costs.

In other news, Fraser’s new film The Whale aired at London Film Festival on Tuesday (11 October).

After watching the film, British members of the press are heaping praise on the long-absent actor for his performance.

The Whale will be released in the US on 9 December. A UK release date is yet to be announced.