Even before Tom Cruise's 2017 appearance in a new 'The Mummy' completely massacred its studio's attempt at a revival, fans were dragging the franchise for many reasons. In fact, then-fans watched the series begin to fail over the course of its three '90s to 2000s films.
And in 2017, after a handful of 'The Scorpion King' films had been reasonably successful, Universal Studios decided to head in a darker direction with 'The Mummy.' To set things off, they replaced Brendan Fraser with Tom Cruise. But then, they changed up the mummy, too.
'The Mummy' 2017 Changed The Theme Of The Franchise
While Brendan Fraser's 'Mummy' films all featured male mummies (Arnold Vosloo for the first two films as Imhotep, then Jet Li as the Dragon Emperor), the revival changed up the script.
The central story of the 2017 'Mummy' was that Princess Ahmanet was mistakenly revived, and of course, she's out for vengeance against those who mummified her alive. The plot was quite a bit darker than past iterations, and the female mummy was exceedingly creepy.
Who Was The Female Mummy In 'The Mummy' 2017?
Thanks to hours of intricate makeup application, Sofia Boutella became a half-dead Ahmanet that was delightfully horrifying. But who is Sofia Boutella, and what happened to her post-box office flop?
While Tom Cruise continued to do fine career-wise after the movie tanked, Sofia Boutella had more to lose. She'd been in a few movies prior to landing 'The Mummy,' but none were huge hits.
Her resume does include 'Star Trek Beyond,' but prior to that 2016 project, Sofia's acting history didn't really span mainstream US hits. Still, the Algerian actress has some impressive talents; she's a dancer, which means many of her roles have centered around her abilities on the dance floor.
Which might leave fans wondering, whatever happened to Sofia, and did she continue on the horror-zombie path despite the mummy film's epic flop?
What Is Sofia Boutella Doing Today?
Maybe Sofia Boutella didn't mind her career as a mummy coming to a swift close. Because in the years since then, she's appeared in some other noteworthy projects. Namely, she portrayed a disco dancer in one of Madonna's videos.
But the most interesting thing is that Sofia was appearing in high-profile artists' music videos long before she worked with Tom Cruise. She appeared with the Foo Fighters, Bebe Rehxa, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Ne-Yo, Usher, Chris Brown, and Rihanna in the years leading up to (and following) her acting debut with Cruise.
So maybe that one minor film that didn't do well in theaters didn't rain on Sofia's parade after all.