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Cronin’s The Mummy has been rated R for “strong disturbing violent content, gore, language and brief drug use.” This breaks a franchise trend that lasted for nearly three decades. All of the films starring Fraser were rated PG-13, as was the ill-fated 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Being Rated R Makes Sense
It’s understandable why the last batch of Mummy movies opted for a PG-13 rating. The Fraser-led series was designed to be a classic action/adventure franchise in the vein of Indiana Jones, placing more of an emphasis on set pieces and comedy. The Cruise reboot, infamously, was envisioned as the first chapter of the Dark Universe franchise, a new shared cinematic universe for Universal’s classic movie monsters. In both of these instances, PG-13 was the way to go since the films were mainly commercial plays hoping to appeal to a wide audience. For years, PG-13 has been the desired rating for many studio tentpoles due to the perceived boost in box office prospects.
For Cronin’s film, R is the way to go. There have been plenty of successful PG-13 horror movies released over the years (including the Quiet Place franchise), but since The Mummy is pivoting back to horror this year, it makes more sense for the filmmakers to fully embrace the R rating. It means they don’t have to hold anything back and can really lean into the terror of the situation. As seen in the most recent Mummy trailer, the movie features elements of possession and body horror, so watering those down to fit within the PG-13 requirements would run the risk of making the film underwhelming.
