Lee Cronin’s The Mummy became available for digital streaming on Tuesday, May 19, moving the R-rated horror back into living rooms less than five weeks after it opened in theaters on April 17.
The film is being offered on premium video on demand at a $24.99 purchase price or for a $19.99 rental that grants 48 hours of viewing. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced the PVOD release as the picture continues a quick roll through theatrical windows: it opened with $13.5 million domestically and $21.5 million internationally in its first weekend, a $34 million global start. Through Sunday the film had earned $29 million domestically, $59.1 million internationally and $88.1 million worldwide.
Those returns sit against a production budget of $22 million, before marketing, and a theatrical footprint that shrank to 178 North American theaters over the weekend. The studio has also scheduled a 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD release for July 14.
The story follows Jack Reynor’s Charlie Canon and Laia Costa’s Larissa Canon as their daughter vanishes in Cairo and reappears eight years later from a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus. May Calamawy, Billie Roy and Veronica Falcón also star. The film has been described as a new take on the mummy genre from Cronin, the director of Evil Dead Rise.
Speaking about the production choices, Cronin said, "It was of absolute importance to me," and added, "I like to create movies with grounded and believable characters, and with my exploring a culture that was different to my own experiences and upbringing, it was vital that the characters from Egypt were represented faithfully and with huge respect."
Actress May Elghety, who plays Layla Khalil in the film, said she was drawn to that approach. "I couldn’t quite believe it," she said of joining the project. "I loved Lee Cronin’s work on Evil Dead Rise, and I’ve always loved horror as a genre." She added, "After speaking with him and understanding that he wanted to create something very different from the earlier Mummy films, I was really excited to be part of it." On her character she said, "I play Layla Khalil," and "She is Katie’s childhood best friend and, without giving too much away, Layla is instrumental in both Katie’s disappearance and the eventual reveal of the truth." Elghety called the role: "She’s incredibly resilient and brave."
Warner Bros.' decision to move to PVOD at this point is a calculated step for a midbudget tentpole in the streaming era. The film’s theatrical sums already eclipse its production budget, and the PVOD window funnels direct revenue to the studio: buys at $24.99 and rentals at $19.99 are high-margin and more immediate than weeks of shrinking theater counts. International interest has been a particular strength — $59.1 million of the $88.1 million worldwide gross so far — and observers note that roughly half the film unfolds in Egypt, with stretches delivered in Arabic, giving it overseas texture and reach.
There is friction in the picture’s economics. The domestic box office has lagged relative to international takes, and the drop to 178 theaters signals theaters are reallocating screens. That diminishes further theatrical upside even as PVOD pushes the title into homes. The upcoming July 14 physical release provides another revenue stream, but home video sales rarely replicate the early surge that PVOD can deliver.
Taken together, the moves suggest a clear aim: turn a respectful, R-rated reinvention of a franchise monster into multiple, rapid revenue streams. Given a $22 million production cost and an $88.1 million global box office haul before PVOD, the film has already passed a critical threshold; the May 19 digital release and the July 14 physical release should lock in further returns. In short, the PVOD release is not a sign of failure but the next commercial phase — one likely to secure profits for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy and extend the film’s reach beyond its rapidly shrinking theater run.
