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Now it’s 2008, I’m almost finished with college and the international movie market has begun to grow at an incredible rate. Franchise regular Brendan Fraser would return, while Rachel Weisz declined as she was far too famous and valuable after her 2006 Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress. She was replaced by Maria Bello’s silly accent, the mummy was downgraded to a resurrected Chinese terracotta warrior, and the annoying young boy from the sequel was replaced with an older, annoying man-child. It was a disaster.

Were it not for the international market growth, the Chinese storyline and the 2008 Beijing Olympics marketing push, the film would have lost money. As it was, it opened to $40 million and earned $102 million domestically (the lowest totals in the series) while it earned a total of $401 million worldwide (on par with the series). That wasn’t too bad considering the $145 million budget and seven year gap in films, but for all intents and purposes the franchise was dead with no hopes of coming back to life.

That was until 2012 rolled around and The Avengers took the world by storm with its $206 million record breaking debut weekend. Suddenly, Cinematic Universes were EVERYWHERE. The Avengers eventually led to The Justice League for DC’s Extended Universe, which led to the Transformers “writer’s room” universe, which led to Universal creating their very own monster movie mashup called The Dark Universe. So, basically, what Hollywood is offering me is one of my favorite film monsters (The Mummy) merging with one of my favorite film concepts (Cinematic Universes) that’s going to include mega A-list celebrities (Tom Cruise) and will combine a few of my favorite genres (horror, action and adventure). SIGN ME UP!!!

Except, wait a second, Hollywood has been in a downward spiral of late. Studios now throw the same crap out every weekend and consumers are tired of it. Maybe 10 or 20 years ago The Mummy + Tom Cruise + Universal’s horror icons + Cinematic Universe + $125 million budget = $500 million worldwide. Considering the state of cinema, nothing is a guarantee anymore without the Disney/Marvel/Pixar/StarWars brand burned into your ass cheek.

There are a lot of factors working in The Mummy’s favor but there are even more working against it. 2017 is much different than 2001. Not much can help you prepare for what to expect when it comes to the financial box office performance of 2017’s The Mummy, the first in Universal’s Dark Universe. I may not know where the numbers will fall (though early predictions continue to shrink by the day), but I do have an idea of how you can prep for your enjoyment level. So sit back, unwrap your mummy bandages and relax as we uncover five ways to prep for the new Mummy movie.

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