By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Cinematic remakes generally have a bad reputation for a good reason: most of the time, classic films are remade as nothing more than a cheap cash grab by the studio. Every now and then, though, a remake comes along that blows the original out of the water while winning over an entirely new generation of fans. The best example of this is The Mummy: not only is this 1999 film the best horror remake ever made, but you can now stream it on Tubi completely for free.
The Mummy On Tubi
The plot of The Mummy is breezy, even by Tubi standards: we follow a not-so-naughty librarian’s misadventures as she teams up with a charismatic treasure hunter to explore a mythical city. The city turns out to be all too real, but plundering its treasures proves to be difficult thanks to both a rival treasure hunter and an ancient horror. When that horror is accidentally awakened, these reluctant heroes may be all that stands between the world and a centuries-old threat to all of mankind.
The Mummy is worth streaming on Tubi largely thanks to its wonderful cast, including Brendan Fraser, best known outside of this franchise for Crash and (more recently) The Whale. It also stars Rachel Weisz, best known for The Constant Gardner and The Lobster. In addition to those two Oscar-winning romantic leads, the film also stars Arnold Vosloo, who is best known outside of the Mummy films for Blood Diamond and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
While Vosloo is pitch-perfect as the film’s Big Bad, it’s fair to say that the primary reason to watch The Mummy on Tubi is because of the downright electric chemistry between Fraser and Weisz. These are two of the most gorgeous actors to ever grace the silver screen, and they feed off each other’s stupidly sexy energy in every scene. The result is borderline erotic, and their provocatively playful interactions help elevate what might otherwise be fairly mundane story beats.
Before The Mummy became a hidden gem on Tubi, it earned plenty of real-life treasure: against a budget of $80 million, it earned $418.1 million. This major financial success led to several follow-up projects, including two proper sequels, one cinematic spinoff (the execrable film The Scorpion King), and an animated series. This original film even got a failed reboot, one that not even the star power of Tom Cruise could save from complete critical and commercial disappointment.
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Mummy has a critical rating of 62 percent. Critics generally noted that this wasn’t exactly a great movie but was great fun to watch. Moviegoers liked the film a bit more, and the movie has a 75 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mummy was profitable and popular long before Tubi or streaming was around, but the film has only gotten more popular in recent years. That’s partially due to younger fans discovering this classic from yesteryear and then creating one deliciously weird meme after another to share their newfound cinematic passion with the world. And if you’ve recently been inundated with countless memes about this Brendan Fraser classic (it’s not just us, right?), this is the perfect time to watch or re-watch the best horror remake ever made.
Will you find The Mummy as entertaining as I did when you stream it on Tubi, or would you rather be eaten by scarabs than watch through to the credits? The only way to find out is to plunge into this adventure and discover the answers for yourself. And if watching these onscreen hotties leads to a sexual awakening or two inside of you, that’s just one more thing you’ll have in common with this film’s legion of thirsty fans.
