Why The Mummy Was A Disaster

2. Tom Cruise Was Totally Miscast

It's very clear that Universal felt like they could just throw Tom Cruise into this movie and it would be a major hit, considering his general aptitude for picking sturdy projects and his consistent box office success.

However, just as Baywatch proved, a beloved movie star can't always sell a bad movie, and aside from Cruise just not having enough pull to make the movie a big hit, he was so, so wrong for the part.

Cruise succeeds at playing unstoppable heroes with an iron will who overcome the odds, not a**hole treasure hunters who the audience is encouraged to warm to over the course of the movie. It's just not his strength, especially in the blockbuster arena, and the part of the smarmy douche you end up liking would've been much better-suited to, say, a Chris Pratt or Bradley Cooper.