Cruise Scream Becomes Meme

An unconvincing Tom Cruise scream has become something of a meme that’s now even available as a ringtone. The clip went public after a blunder by Universal Pictures.

The movie studio produced a trailer for the upcoming The Mummy remake but a production error meant some of the audio tracks were missing. That meant key sound effects from action sequences weren’t included, leaving just the audio from stars Cruise and Annabelle Wallis.

Having expected to be drowned out, it appears Cruise’s screams in particular were designed more for visual than audible effect. The clip attracted something of a cult following and served as meme fodder.

Perhaps the best is a mash-up (above) of movie clips which originally used the Wilhelm Scream, a hugely popular stock sound effect popularized in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series. When replaced with the Cruise scream, the effect is somewhat undermined…