‘The Mummy’ Director Alex Kurtzman Responds To Massive Critical Backlash To The Film

Currently sitting at 16% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, to say The Mummy opened to “bad” reviews would be somewhat of an understatement, with certain critics calling it an “an utter bore, one with only the faintest grasp of what made Universal’s monster pictures so iconic, ” a “mess,” and “the worst movie that Tom Cruise has ever made.” The film’s director, however, has fired back at those critics with the newly-adopted “I’m not making movies” for critics response.

When speaking with Business Insider, Alex Kurtzman revealed, “Obviously, that’s disappointing to hear,” in response to the negative critical reactions. “The only gauge that I really use to judge it is having just traveled around the world and hearing the audiences in the theaters. This is a movie that I think is made for audiences and in my experience, critics and audiences don’t always sing the same song.”

American audiences, however, haven’t responded favorably to the film either, with its domestic gross sitting at less than $60 million in its first two weekends, which is less than half of the film’s reported $125 million budget. As we’re in the throes of summer blockbuster season, the film will only continue to be buried in upcoming weeks.

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Internationally, the film has fared much better, having earned nearly $240 million in other territories, in addition to earning Tom Cruise his biggest international opening.

Kurtzman might be able to attempt to ignore the critics, but he still revealed, “It is the thing that kills your soul when you have just gone through an experience like this one we just went through.”

Sadly, Kurtzman is no stranger to critical reviews of his films, having previously written Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Cowboys & Aliens, which sit at 19%, 52%, and 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively.

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“I’m not making movies for them,” Kurtzman explained of critics. “Would I love them to love it? Of course, everybody would, but that’s not really the endgame. We made a film for audiences and not critics so my great hope is they will find it and they will appreciate it.”

Similarly, only a few weeks ago Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took to Twitter to defend his Baywatch adaptation, which earned a measily 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. The actor explained, “Oh boy, critics had their venom & knives ready 😂. Fans LOVE the movie. Huge positive scores. Big disconnect w/ critics & people.”

The Rock also brought up the film’s CinemaScore in a subsequent tweet, saying, “Fans across the country havin’ a BLAST & LOVING #Batwatch🔥. Veryyy happy audience = best part of my job. (B+ CinemaScore 🤣👍🏾🍿).”

Compared to box office returns or critical analysis of films, CinemaScore asks actual audiences about the films they’ve seen and asks them to rate the film from A+ to F. The Mummy has earned a B- CinemaScore.