lee cronin's The Mummy trailer and poster promise a new, terrifying take
The first full trailer and a striking retro poster have arrived for Lee Cronin's The Mummy, offering a stark, horror-forward reimagining of the classic monster. The new material draws a hard line between the tone of this standalone project and the lighter, action-adventure iterations that came before.
Trailer delivers a distinct horror vision
The trailer centers on an anguished family reunion that’s anything but comforting: two parents, played by Jack Reynor and Laia Costa, are told that their daughter, missing for eight years, has been found alive. When they see the child—portrayed by Natalie Grace—it becomes clear she is not the same. The twist: she spent those eight years entombed inside a 3, 000-year-old sarcophagus. From that premise the footage leans into body-horror and an escalating sense of dread rather than spectacle.
Director Lee Cronin, whose work on recent horror has built a reputation for intense, visceral scares, positions this film as his personal vision of the mummy myth. Producers include James Wan and Jason Blum, names familiar in modern horror production, which suggests a push to make this iteration both commercially visible and distinctly unnerving. The trailer emphasizes practical-leaning effects, a suffocating atmosphere and moments designed to unsettle rather than to amuse—an intentional contrast with earlier, more tongue-in-cheek Mummy outings.
Retro poster channels 1980s horror design
Alongside the trailer comes a poster that looks intentionally dug out of the past. Designed in a retro style with sand tones and moody blues, the artwork shows a man sobbing in the desert while a pyramid looms and a woman's face emerges from its side. The composition and weathered finish are deliberate nods to classic 1980s horror artwork, trading glossy minimalism for texture, grain and a serif title treatment that harks back to analog era campaigns.
The poster’s aesthetic choices do more than please nostalgia: they signal the film’s willingness to embrace genre traditions while reframing them through Cronin’s darker lens. The decision to favor a vintage look is also a reminder that promotional design can shape audience expectations before a frame of the movie is seen, and this art makes clear the intention to sell unease rather than blockbuster thrills.
What to expect and release details
Lee Cronin's The Mummy opens on April 17, 2026 (ET). The film is presented as a standalone entry, separate in tone and approach from previous studio franchises that treated the character as adventure material. This iteration’s emphasis on entombment, transformation and familial horror suggests a focus on psychological and corporeal terror, anchored by the central mystery: what happened to Katie?
Early footage and promotional art both point to a horror picture that aims to be memorable for its atmosphere and specificity rather than franchise-friendly fan service. Whether audiences will embrace two very different Mummy branches running simultaneously remains to be seen, but the current campaign makes Cronin’s film unmistakable: this is a mummy movie meant to be experienced in a dark theater, not on a theme-park marquee.
As the release approaches, expect additional clips and more campaign material that will further define how Cronin’s standalone vision fits into the broader landscape of monster cinema. For now, the trailer and poster make a clear promise—this The Mummy wants to frighten, and it intends to do so on its own terms.
