THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2001

'Mummy' Sequel Springs to Life at Box Office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``The Mummy Returns,'' an elaborate action movie sequel starring Brendan Fraser, made a record-breaking debut at the weekend box office in North America -- a good omen for the lucrative summer movie-going season, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

The special-effects extravaganza hauled in about $70.1 million from 3,401 movie theaters across the United States and Canada for the Friday-to-Sunday period, replacing 1999's ``Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'', which took $64.8 million, as the biggest non-holiday bow in movie history.

On the overall list, ``The Mummy Returns'' trails only ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park,'' which debuted with $72 million during the Memorial Day holiday weekend in May 1997.

The film's forerunner, ``The Mummy,'' opened with $43.4 million in May 1999, and ended up with $414 million worldwide.

A spokesman for ``Mummy'' distributor Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal, said the new film also set new records for Friday and Saturday hauls -- $23.4 million and $26.8 million, respectively.

``Toy Story 2'' held the previous Friday record with $22.6 million, while ``Lost World'' had the Saturday mark with $24.4 million.

``What we have is lightning in a bottle ... and it's a really good way to start the summer movie season,'' said Peter Adee, Universal's president of marketing.

Although Memorial Day weekend, which this year begins on May 25 with Walt Disney Co.'s wartime epic ``Pearl Harbor,'' has traditionally launched the lucrative summer box office period, the studios have recently started rolling out their big guns in the first week of May to maximize ticket sales for their busiest time of the year.

``The Mummy Returns'' stars Fraser as a dashing tomb raider who renews his battle with disinterred mummy Imhotep, played by Arnold Vosloo. In a quest for big-screen stardom, wrestling hero The Rock makes a cameo as the Scorpion King, a villain who could be spun off into his own movie.

``Some people will go for the special effects, but they'll only love the movie if they can relate to the character and the story,'' said Stephen Sommers, the writer and director of both ''Mummy'' films.

According to Universal exit polling, moviegoers were evenly split by gender, while the film attracted all age groups. Sommers said he bumped into an 85-year-old woman at a Friday screening. Ninety percent of moviegoers polled gave the film an ''excellent'' or ``very good'' rating, and 70 percent gave it a ''definite recommend.''

``The Mummy Returns'' more than doubled the combined grosses of the other films in the top 12, accounting for 69 percent of ticket sales. The $102.4 million total for the top 12 represents an 86 percent leap from last weekend, and a 32 percent jump from the year-ago period, when eventual best picture Oscar winner ``Gladiator'' opened at No. 1 with $34.8 million.

Last weekend's top film, the Sylvester Stallone auto-racing thriller ``Driven'' (Warner Bros.), slipped to a very distant No. 2 with $6.1 million, taking its 10-day haul to $21.6 million. A spokesman for the studio, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., predicted it would end up in the mid-$30 million area.

British romantic comedy ``Bridget Jones's Diary'' (Miramax) was No. 3 with $6.0 million, followed by ``Spy Kids'' (Dimension) with $4.0 million and ``Along Came A Spider'' (Paramount) with $3.8 million. All were one rung lower.

With $98.5 million in the bank after 38 days, ``Spy Kids'' will pass the century mark by next weekend and end up near $110 million, said a Dimension spokesman. ``Bridget Jones'' has grossed $44.7 million after 24 days, while ``Spider'' has $60 million after 31 days.

Dimension Films and its Miramax Films parent are Walt Disney units, while Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc. .

``Town & Country,'' New Line Cinema's troubled $90 million Warren Beatty film, appeared to have fallen out of the top 10 after just one week. The marital infidelity comedy earned $1.3 million, about $30,000 less than ``One Night At McCool's'' (USA Films) at No. 10. ``Town'' has a 10-day total of $5.2 million, and the AOL Time Warner-owned studio hopes it will reach $10 million.

The sole new wide release next weekend is ``A Knight's Tale,'' a period action romp starring young Australian heartthrob Heath Ledger. Besides ``Pearl Harbor,'' other anticipated summer movies include director Steven Spielberg's sci-fi film ``A.I.'' (June 29), Tim Burton's ``Planet of the Apes'' update (July 27), and ``American Pie 2'' (August 10).

The top movies in North America -- May 4-6

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the May 4-6 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. The Mummy Returns .......... $68,139,035

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $68,139,035

2. Driven .......... $6,002,516

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $21,503,718

3. Bridget Jones's Diary .......... $5,730,131

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $44,465,598

4. Spy Kids .......... $3,812,829

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $98,408,649

5. Along Came a Spider .......... $3,762,266

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $60,004,520

6. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles .......... $3,108,663

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $17,941,159

7. Blow .......... $2,447,638

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $44,245,722

8. Joe Dirt .......... $1,475,282

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $24,742,333

9. The Forsaken .......... $1,406,246

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $5,293,681

10. Town & Country .......... $1,333,504

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $5,231,574

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.:  The Summer season starts in mid Spring with the onslaught of The Mummy Returns. It was estimated to make about $70.1 million over the weekend, but the final tally ended up being closer to $68 million which is no chump change.  The first 3 days of Mummy 2 outgrossed the combined total gross of about 6 of the other top 10 movies.  I contributed to its bounty and have a full review.  There is a lot to say about this movie and what it means.  It is the only new movie this week so I will be able to spend a lot of time to goof on this over done action picture.  Video Nose Pick is back with a full review of "The Emperor's New Groove" starring David Spade.

THE MUMMY RETURNS - FULL REVIEW

The Mummy Returns is a great action movie. It does not go more than 5 or 10 minutes without some big chase or fight sequence. Pound for pound, it is one of the busiest movies I have ever seen. No time is taken out to rest. This is the sequel, as most people know, to the 1999 hit, The Mummy which starred Brendan Fraser as a rogue tomb raider who somehow gets mixed up in the re-animation of Imhotep. Fraser is the only one who really came out of the first movie as a bigger star than when they went in. The others in the cast like Rachel Weiz as Evelyn and Arnold Vosloo as the Mummy were still unknown except for the Mummy credit. The first movie was received with mixed reactions from the public even though it made over a $150 million at the box office. What made the first one work is that it took the time to establish characters and relationships while at the same time contain great action sequences like the giant face in the sand bit that impressed so many when they first saw the preview during the 1999 Superbowl. It was silly, but a fun ride that accomplished its goal of making lots and lots of money. A sequel was a forgone conclusion when during the first 3 days of its release it eared $44.5 million which was a record for the time for a non holiday release. Also it was quite impressive for a movie that was not a sequel to open to that much business. As I have always said, proper marketing can get even very mediocre films (Hannibal anyone?) to open over $30 million. Since Mummy Returns has so much action in it, a fancy trailer with quick cuts of jumping mummy guards, gun battles, Annibus warriors, The Rock from the WWF as the Scorpion King, and the return of the giant Mummy face in a tidal wave was enough to put TMR on the must see list for all those "have to see the movie on the first day marks." Bigger action, better special effects, and an appearance by the most popular pro wrestler in the history of the business was a perfect combination for success. Let's see what was really done here. The basic plot is that Fraser and Weiz are now married and it is 9 years after the first movie where they are still running around the Middle East and London England, but this time raising their young, very intelligent son. One night, Weiz's character starts having strange flashbacks or visions of another life. These visions draw her and her family back to Egypt to explore more tombs. What they end up finding is the bracelet of the Scorpion King which somehow leads them to run into the reincarnation of the mummy's old girlfriend who wants to bring back Imhotep who got send back to the underworld in the first movie. Most of the original cast is back for TMR except for a few guys who were killed who never had anyone read from the Book of Life to bring them back. Fraser channels the ghost of old Harrison Ford movies to find the depths of his character and comes out unscathed. He is good in these movies because even though he is a fairly big guy, he looks like an everyman and not really a superhero or chosen one. I also like it when he grits his teeth when he's pissed off. He is an underrated actor who sometimes gets praised too much. I just find it amazing that the guy who played Encino Man is a box office draw. Rachel Weiz as Evelyn is the best thing in the movie. She is much more physically active than she was in the first one and in the past 9 years has learned some major martial arts moves that would give Zhang Ziyi a run for her money. She steals the picture in my opinion and saves it from being a disaster. I may go check out "Enemy at the Gates" now since I have now become a fan. The reason behind the characters fighting prowess is explained and is a major plot point which sort of disappoints, but it does give us an excuse to see a couple cat fights between her and the other femme fatale in the film played by Patricia Velasquez. Velasquez plays a dual role as the mysterious woman of the present trying to interact with her past self known as Anck-Su-Namun, which may be my all time favorite character name. It is prounounced A-nuck-sue-na-mon, and I just love saying it in that deep Egyptian mummy voice Imhotep uses. Velasquez is attractive, especially in mesh, but the character of 1933 is never really developed. You never learn how she found out she has a connection to a 3000 year old dead woman who cheated on her husband. You just have to accept her existence since the movie can't take 2 minutes to explain anything. The other person who is very good in the film is Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay the warrior who helped the heroes in the first film and is given a lot more to do here. I could see the Ardeth character getting his own movie. There is a whole history there unexplored that could make a good series of adventure films or even a syndicated television series in the realm of a Hercules or Xena. Arnold Vosloo returns as the Big Mouth, Imhotep. He is really p'oed this time and not only wants to take out Fraser, take out his Sunamun (on a date), but also stop the Scorpion King from coming back to take over the world. Vosloo is fine, but doesn't really have much to do but make faces and play stunt man in some fight scenes, but there is a bit at the very end when he comes to a shocking revelation that was my favorite acting portion of the film. Much publicity was given to the fact that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson from the World Wrestling Federation was going to have big impact on this film as the Scorpion King. I am a fan of the Rock and have seen him perform live during wrestling shows. He is very charismatic and funny when he goofs on other wrestlers or is feuding with the likes of Kurt Angle and Triple H. However, his small role as the Scorpion does not let him show off the strengths that made him famous. That's okay, since seeing a 3000 year old Egyptian warrior call someone a "rudy poo candy ass" would not have fit too well in the context of the movie. The Rock did get to do what he does best and that is lay the smackdown on some warrior armies and that was cool. The only problem comes when the Rock has to take the form of a half man/half scorpion does the movie lose me. This effect is not done too well overall and distracts the viewer from enjoying the action that it involves. It definitely could have been done better. The Scorpion King character is coming back in a prequel next year starring Mr. Johnson and that should be interesting. If the action is solid and the back story is kept interesting, then the movie could be successful. Just don't expect the acting to be more convincing than early Conan movies. The only other characters of note are Freddie Boath as Alex the precocious son of Fraser and Weiz and the henchman he is terrorized by throughout the film, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje from the HBO show OZ. They have this weird Bart and Homer Simpson dynamic which some of the better comic relief. Boath is about 2 steps less annoying than the kid who played Annakin Skywalker in Star Wars Phantom Menace. So, The Mummy Returns is entertaining and all of the actors give it their best to make a fun movie. However, the problems that bring the movie down are several. For one thing, there is no real story. Stephen Sommers, the director and writer, does not take any time to develop a character or give us more information on what has occurred since the first movie. In fact, if it was not for the 9 year old child, the movie may have taken place a day after Imhotep was sent away at the end of part one. Fraser and Weiz have aged only 2 years since filming the Mummy, and have not aged a bit which hurts the selling of the nearly 10 year gap. Weiz's character has these strange visions that hold the secret to some of the mysteries left unsolved in the first film, but we never get a build up to that. As soon as she appears on screen she says that she has been having these awful nightmares like they were actually shown earlier in the film. Deleted scenes hell. I like my action movies to have action and lots of it with little talk. Well, I did before I saw this film. It is okay to take 5 or 10 minutes to have people just discuss what the heck is going on to have the audience at least catch their breath or to make us care when danger does happen. At one point a major character dies, but it gets no reaction from the audience because the ultimate outcome is so predictable. The direction of some of the suspense sequences is also poor. There is this area full of pygmie mummies (don't ask) and at one point a guy creeps up to what looks like a dead pygmie hanging on the side of a tree. The camera does a close up on the pygmie for about 30 seconds before it ultimately jumps out at its proper music cue to scare the creeping guy and supposedly the audience. The telegraphing of that jump was so obvious, you could hear everyone in the audience sarcastically go boo. For that scene to work, a little mis-direction would have helped such as have a pygmie from behind the guy attack and not the one being focused on the whole time. The other thing that was most annoying about Mummy Returns was its poor special effects. The disfigured mummy animation of Imhotep when he first returns and has not absorbed any human souls is much better than the first film which sort had him glow and blink out every once in a while. All of the f/x budget was spent getting Imhotep to look right. He was more realistic than Jar Jar Binks (sorry for another Star Wars reference). Unfortunately, in a key scene when the Imhotep pre-Vosloo mummy is explaining to the little boy about his fate, you can't understand half of what he says. Since all the time was spent on Imhotep stage one and two, everything else fell to crap. The Annibus army of jackal headed warriors looks cool in theory, but the execution was not done well. It looked like computer animated creatures running around and not monsters that could conceivably be there on set. There is no semblance of weight given to the creatures and it takes away from them being a true threat. Their numbers are great, but too similar with the multiplying effects done to put more on the screen. Amazing talent to choreograph synchronous movements of 5 thousand animals. This effect was very noticieable in the Scorpion King army where human actors were multiplied on a computer to make it look like a thousand instead of the 100 extras that were on the set. Emmerich and Devlin of "The Patriot" fame and Robert Zemeckis of "Forest Gump" are famous for their computer generated crowd scenes with Zemeckis being the best director of computer effects that do not look like computer effects. Everything in Mummy Returns looks like an effect. At no point do you think you are looking at anything that could have happened live on the set. Green screen hell. I am the biggest fan in the world of the Ray Harryhausen style of stop motion animation done in the Sinbad and Jason and the Argonaut movies. They look very fake and choppy compared to the dinos in a Jurassic Park movie, but the effort to do those old movies makes up for the primitive special effects. However, with all of these fancy computers, the makers of The Mummy Returns could have done a bit better. If you get beyond the weaknesses of the special effects and just accept the movie as it is presented, it is very entertaining. The double decker bus fight is the best action sequence with the fight between the two Egyptian women with sais being the best overall scene in the film. Pay your money just to see that. The worst special effect is the flying dirigible. The most disappointing special effect is the Scorpion King in full half man/half arachnid. I almost wanted to break out my video game joystick when it came on screen it was so computer generated. The movie is fun, funny, and action filled. It is the perfect Summer movie and will be a huge blockbuster this year. I will be there next year for The Scorpion King movie as well as any Revenge of the Mummy (The Mummy 3) that might be made in the future. If I was a producer, I would actually be looking into doing that Ardeth Bay television show. He rocked. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs up. Lot of problems, but never boring, and Rachel Weiz just might get the Zhang Ziyi treatment on my site over the next few weeks.

1. Driven is making a pit stop this week with 3 busted tires.

2. I think it is time for Sylvester Stallone to consult one of his mom's psychic friends to find out what his next career move should be, since it couldn't be worse advice than what he has been getting since he signed the contract to star in Judge Dredd.

3. Bridget Jones' Diary is the official sleeper hit of the year since I must have been asleep when people were handing out let's make Renee Zelwegger a movie star pills.

4. The thing that bothers me the most about movies this year is that if the year ended today, Spy Kids would be the best of the crop.

5. If you plan on seeing Along Came a Spider, don't watch the previews since they give away the big secret in the film.

6. With the lack of interest in Crocodile Dundee going to Los Angeles, Yahoo Serious has decided to hold back on finishing pre production on Young Einstein goes to Saskatchewan.

7. Blow may not do much for Johnny Depp's career, but the contiuation of Operation: Pee Wee Who? continues with Paul Reubens.

8. Joe Dirt proves that the age of the mullet is over.

9. Here is a tip for anyone making a Forsaken 2, and that is don't forget to let your vampires have fangs.

10. I give Town & Country props for keeping One Night at McCools out of the top ten when it threatened to be there Sunday afternoon when early box office projections had the Liv "My Daddy Still Loves Me" Tyler bust making the cut after failing to do so the week before.

I am a DVD junkie. I am a big sucker for double disc DVD sets of one movie. I have bought many films sight unseen just because it had 2 discs full of extras. The master of the 2 disc set is Walt Disney. Recently, they released "The Emperor's New Groove" in a special edition. I passed on the movie in theaters, but seeing the DVD presentation, I figured, how bad could it be. Well, I am pleased to say that TENG is a good movie, not great, but pretty good. This animated tale is about a cocky emperor Kuzco voiced by David "Joe Dirt Was My Baby, Damnit" Spade who wants to build a Summer house on the top of a hill that would displace some poor peasants, especially the peasant Pacha, voiced by John Goodman. Emperor Kuzco is a jerk who is not that sympathetic, and one day he fires his advisor, Yzma, voiced by Eartha Kit, and her faithful companion, Kronk, voiced by Patrick "Puddy from Seinfeld" Warburton. Yzma is secretly a witch and she turns dimwitted Kuzco into a Llama instead of killing him. At that point the hilarity ensues. This movie is nothing amazing, but it is fun and unlike what the title hints at, it is not a musical in any way. There is one small sequence where Kuzco gets his groove on, but its brief and early on in the picture. Emperor's new groove is a fun adventure that the whole family can enjoy. Kuzco and Pacha team up to take on Yzma and Kronk, and they fall into all sorts of trouble while not ever really getting along that well. The character of Kronk steals the movie and is hilarious in every scene he shows up in especially his hidden bilingual talent. Warburton's voice is perfect for vocal roles like this and he does not disappoint. Kitt is solid as the villainous Yzma, and has some choice moments as well especially the one where she is about to take out a knife on our decrepit heroes. Goodman is fine, but plays the part completely straight with no real oomph.  Straight man hell.  The only real problem with the film is how unlikable Kuzco is.  When he turns into a llama you are supposed to feel sorry for him to a certain degree, but since he is such a jerk, he really deserved everything that happened to him.  Now, Kuzco is supposed to be unlikable so that by the end of the film he can make the 180 turn to the light side.  What helps compensate for the hero being arrogant it the Kronk character who is the best comic relief in animated films in a long time.  This is a very light film and not as dark as some of the more elaborate Disney films of late like Dinosaur and Tarzan.  That is a plus though, since cartoons should be more fun.  If I had seen the movie in the theater, it might have not played as well, but on video it is great and with the full DVD, well worth the price.  It is definitely David Spade's best work since Chris Farley was alive. Final Review:  3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B; thumbs up.  

That is all for this week.  Knight's Tale is next up first to dethrone The Mummy Returns.  I doubt it will succeed.  This is also the debut of the Kickin' Box Office Reports on the Lycos web server, Tripod.  It is one of the very few servers that supports Microsoft Frontpage extensions that NBCI did not.  Also, NBCI is going out of business and there is no telling when they would have shut down their free web services.  The only problem is that Tripod only let's me have 50 megabytes of web space and I am already at 31.2 mbs.  What that means is there might be some editing of old archives in the near future.  Things should be okay though.  I almost thought of ending the site, but I have decided to continue for the foreseeable future.  This is probably not the last time this web site will change, but for now it is https://members.tripod.com/jldmoox.

Bye for now.