Cronin Passed on ‘Evil Dead Burn’ for Risky Take on ‘The Mummy’

It’s wild how different things would be if the leadership change that nearly sent Evil Dead Rise straight to HBO Max hadn’t ultimately put it in theaters.

The Lee Cronin-directed Evil Dead Rise was a massive box office success, grossing nearly $150M and reigniting the franchise Sam Raimi created 45 years ago.

Cronin was brought into the Evil Dead universe after impressing with his indie The Hole in the Ground, which led Raimi to hand the keys to the young filmmaker.

After Evil Dead Rise was a hit, Cronin was invited back for the forthcoming Evil Dead Burn, but opted to take a risk with something different in The Mummy, opening in theaters this April.

“The risk was not making a sequel to my last movie, because that was really easy for me to do,” Cronin tells SFX (via GamesRadar). “I said no, ultimately, because I wanted to do something else, and I like to take a risk and gamble.”

He continues, “The other risk factor is there’s brilliant movies called The Mummy, but they’ve also been there since the ’30s. It’s not just about Brendan Fraser, 25 years ago, but there’s a risk because modern culture probably looks at those movies that way. Maybe the Tom Cruise one wasn’t necessarily as well received, although I really enjoyed that film, but for me, the risk was breaking the mold in terms of what people will expect.”

Cronin added, “It’s going to definitely surprise people, but when you make a movie you have to take a risk, because it might be your last chance to make something, and repeating a trick is a sin to me.”

In (in theaters April 17), a journalist’s young daughter disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.