25 years ago, 'The Mummy' was an Indiana Jones-style Universal Monster movie

Stephen Sommers’ action movie provided a lot of thrills that spring.

I remember four big things about the release of The Mummy back in May of 1999 (25 years ago this week). First, my friend and I went to see it because we had shown up early to get tickets for Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace, and they wouldn’t let us wait that early. 

Second, we made fun of the movie’s villain (Arnold Vosloo) and his romantic intentions toward his intended Pharoah’s bride by saying, over and over again, “The Mummy LOVES you” in the cadence of Barry White lyrics. Third, I remember overhearing another moviegoer yelling out, “For most of the movie- he wasn’t even a Mummy- he was just some dude.” 

And fourth, The Mummy ended up providing the types of thrills we were expecting and didn’t get from that other blockbuster just a few weeks later. 

Sure, George Lucas directed The Phantom Menace, but The Mummy was ultimately more faithful to the spirit of the other big franchise Lucas conceived, that of Indiana Jones. Between the early 20th-century setting, the visual palate, and a John Williams-esque score by Jerry Goldsmith, the ’99 version of The Mummy owes much more to Raiders of the Lost Ark than to the original 1932 The Mummy.