THE MUMMY Director Lee Cronin Has a Wickedly Funny Response to the Film’s Poster Ban in The UK
Not every horror movie marketing campaign gets slapped with an advertising ban, but Lee Cronin’s The Mummy managed to pull it off.
While the film itself earned a mixed response from audiences and critics, director Lee Cronin is getting some laughs thanks to his hilariously dark reaction after the UK banned one of the movie's posters for being too disturbing.
The controversy centered on artwork featuring Natalie Grace's Katie Cannon, the film's terrifying mummy, looking exactly as you'd expect a centuries-old undead child to look... pretty rough.
The image apparently crossed a line with the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which ruled that the poster created "a realistic impression of a dead child."
After news of the ban spread, Cronin took to Instagram and shared a screenshot of an article covering the story. His caption was exactly the kind of twisted horror humor you'd expect from the filmmaker:
“I hate to spoil the party, but she’s already inside your home on @hbomax.”
That's a pretty great response. The ASA explained its decision by saying, “The ASA received 30 complaints, many of whom believed the ads were distressing for children and adults.”
According to the agency, the posters appeared in untargeted public locations, including the London Underground and an area visible from a children's nursery.
Because of that placement, regulators determined the imagery could cause distress to children and ruled the campaign violated CAP Code rules 1.3 and 4.2, making the posters unsuitable for outdoor advertising.
Interestingly, another complaint claimed the artwork trivialized child loss and ongoing global conflicts, but the ASA rejected that argument.
Warner Bros., which distributed the film, defended the artwork by explaining that Katie's appearance on the poster was an intentional creative decision. The studio argued the design actually toned down the character's appearance in an effort to reduce distress while still representing the movie.
Cronin wrote and directed The Mummy, which hit UK theaters in mid-April. It ultimately pulled in just over $90 million worldwide but landed with a 45% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it another horror movie that struggled to win over reviewers.
I'm one of the people who just couldn't get into this movie. I didn't enjoy it the first time, and I recently gave it another shot thinking maybe I'd appreciate it more on a second viewing. That didn't happen. I couldn't even finish it. For me, the story falls apart on too many levels, and none of the ideas really come together in a satisfying way.
That said, I can absolutely appreciate Cronin's sense of humor. His response to this whole situation is funny, and it's the kind of cheeky horror filmmaker reaction that fans can get behind.
Whether you loved The Mummy or thought it missed the mark, it's hard not to smile at him turning an advertising controversy into a joke.
As Cronin pointed out, The Mummy is now available on HBO Max, and if there's one thing horror fans know, it's that a little controversy has a funny way of convincing more people to press play.