The Mummy (1999) (Exclusive Series) (HBO Max)

Initial release date: May 7, 1999

Studios: Universal Pictures/ Alphaville Films

Tagline: The sands will rise. The heavens will part. The power will be unleashed.

Adventure Is Reborn

Uncover the secret. Unlock the legend. Unleash the power.

Plot: ‘The Mummy’ is a rousing, suspenseful and horrifying epic about an expedition of treasure-seeking explorers in the Sahara Desert in 1925. Stumbling upon an ancient tomb, the hunters unwittingly set loose a 3,000 year old legacy of terror, which is embodied in the vengeful reincarnation of an Egyptian priest who had been sentenced to an eternity as one of the living dead.

Cast

Brendan Fraser - Rick O’Connell

Rachel Weisz - Evelyn Caranhan

John Hannah - Jonathan Caranhan

Arnold Vosloo - Imhotep

Kevin J. O’Connor - Beni Gabor

Jonathan Hyde - Dr. Allen Chamberlain

Oded Fehr - Ardeth Bay

Erick Avari - Dr. Terrence Bey

Stephen Dunham - Mr. Henderson

Corey Johnson - Mr. Daniels

Tuc Watkins - Mr. Burns

Patricia Velasquez - Anck Su Namun

Aharon Impale - Pharaoh Seti I

Bernard Fox - Captain Winston Havelock

Writer/director: Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing; The Mummy Returns; The Scorpion King; G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)

Rated PG-13 for pervasive adventure violence and some partial nudity (124 minutes)

The ‘Mummy’ remake franchise has had its numerous ups and downs. While ‘The Mummy’ and ‘The Mummy Returns’ were both exciting and thrilling, ‘Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ was a let-down. The series even spawned its own spin-off ‘The Scorpion King,’ which also had its own line of sequels and prequels for the DVD market. For the “Turner Classic Movies” Edition, I took another look at the 1999 movie ‘The Mummy.’

‘The Mummy’ is a great adventure movie with lots of action and some humorous moments. All of the action sequences were really creative and visually well done.

In between all of the fun moments that the movie offers, there are a few times that it can be a little on the dark side, but not too much. ‘The Mummy’ is one of those movies that you can watch over and over again and you will never be bored. Plus, the Egypt scenery is awesome!!

You can catch ‘The Mummy’ and ‘The Mummy Returns,’ along with the 2002 spin-off ‘The Scorpion King,’ available on the HBO Max streaming platform.

Here are several interesting tidbits for 1999s ‘The Mummy’:

• Brendan Fraser nearly died during a scene where his character is hanged.

• An Egyptologist was brought in to phonetically render what Ancient Egyptian might have sounded like for the dialogue.

• According to director Stephen Sommers, Universal phoned him in the morning after this movie was released and said, “We need another one.”

• Rachel Weisz was the only actress offered the part.

• While the film made extensive use of CGI, many scenes, including ones where Evelyn is covered with rats and locusts, were real, using live animals.

• The character Ardeth Bay was originally scripted to die at the end of the film. This was changed by Sommers because he thought the character was “too heroic to be killed off''. As a result, Bay also appears in the 2001 sequel, ‘The Mummy Returns.’

• In the late 1980s, producers James Jacks and Sean Daniel decided to update the original 1932 ‘Mummy’ film for the modern era. Universal gave them the go-ahead, but only if they kept the budget around $10 million. Jacks remembers the studio “essentially wanted a low budget horror film.”

• In 1987, George A., Romero wrote a film treatment, and was attached to direct. Screenwriter Abbie Bernstein recalled that Universal wanted an unstoppable Mummy akin to the Terminator. Bernstein’s story took place in the present; scientists inadvertently bring a mummy to life, who wants to use an ancient device to destroy all life on Earth.

• Next, Jacks and Daniel recruited horror filmmaker/writer Clive Barker to direct after Romero dropped out. Barker’s 1990 treatment and a 1991 screenplay by Mick Garris (Critters 2; The Fly II) were dark and violent, with the story revolving around an art museum that rebuilds an entire Egyptian tomb in Beverly Hills. Barker recalled the concept was too weird for the studio and that his vision treated the Mummy as a jumping off point for the film instead of the central character.

• After the box office disappointment of ‘Babe: Pig in the City’ and other films, Universal needed a hit. At the time, Universal’s management had changed in response to the box office failures, and the losses led the studio to revisit its successful franchises from the 1930s.

• New chair Stacey Snider distributed packets detailing the studio’s holdings - including nearly 5,000 old scripts and films. Director Stephen Sommers received his window of opportunity and pitched his ‘Mummy’ to Universal with an 18 page treatment.

• Test audiences reacted poorly to the film’s title, which conjured up negative impressions of an old horror film, but domestic marketing president Marc Shmuger recalled that they decided “we would redefine the myth with the film” rather than change the title.

• Enthusiasm for the film was low, but Universal took out a TV spot for the Super Bowl (reportedly costing $1.6 million) that Sommers recalled immediately reversed the discussion of the film’s prospects.

• The producers were concerned that the imminent release of ‘The Phantom Menace’ would sink the film’s box office fortunes, resulting in them moving the release date from May 21 to May 7. It grossed $43 million in 3,210 theaters in the domestic opening. Eventually grossed over $155.4 million domestically and $261 million internationally, grossing over $416.4 million worldwide.

• The box office performance led to numerous sequels and spin-offs; such as ‘The Mummy Returns,’ The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ and ‘The Scorpion King’ (which also had a couple sequels, prequel and a rumored reboot). It’s also rumored that the studio may be revisiting the ‘Mummy’ timeline after the 2017 Tom Cruise ‘The Mummy’ bombed horribly.

https://youtu.be/f7oKxlaUBac