Tom Cruise reportedly had excessive control of box-office disaster 'The Mummy'

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June 15, 2017 4:54 PM

Tom Cruise is always a strong leader on his movies, but in the making of "The Mummy," it looks like he had more influence than usual.

"The Mummy."

In the wake of the disastrous domestic opening for Universal's "The Mummy," which at a budget of around $190 million only took in $31.6 million (though it did much better internationally), the finger-pointing has begun.

And many are targeting the would-be blockbuster's star, Tom Cruise.

Cruise has had an overwhelming amount of creative control on all of his movies for the last decade-plus, but according to Variety, the actor had more than usual on the set of "The Mummy."

The trade reports that Cruise had a contract with Universal on the project that gave him control of script approval and postproduction decisions, and he certainly wielded that power.

The movie already had a close collaborator of Cruise's signed on as a screenwriter before the actor came aboard, Christopher McQuarrie, who has written and directed Cruise movies "Jack Reacher," "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," and the upcoming "Mission: Impossible 6." But Cruise then brought on two more screenwriters to beef up his role.

Cruise then brought on his longtime editor Andrew Mondshein to work with the editors already on the project, Paul and Gina Hirsch, to lock the picture. Cruise also spent a lot of time in the edit suite as well, Variety reports.

Looking back on it, studio chatter is mixed. Some believe Cruise had too much power and turned a monster movie (the first of a franchise called Dark Universe that will feature famous monsters like The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man) into a seen-it-already Tom Cruise action flick. Meanwhile, others think Cruise needed to be heavy-handed given the inexperience of director Alex Kurtzman.

Business Insider spoke to Kurtzman before "The Mummy" opened in theaters, and he said he was well aware of Cruise's collaborative nature, as he had worked on scripts for Cruise movies since 2006's "Mission: Impossible III."

Kurtzman added of directing Cruise, "

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