The Mummy

Guide Note:

The Mummy is a 1999 film starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz that was a remake of the classic 1932 Boris Karloff film of the same name. The film's plot concerns a group of archaeologists who accidentally release the High Priest Imhotep from the dead during a dig in the fictional city of Hamunaptra.

Fast Facts:

1. Released: May 7, 1999
2. Rated: PG-13
3. Director: Stephen Sommers
4. Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz
5. Distributor: Universal Pictures
6. Budget (est.): $80 million
7. Worldwide box office: $415.9 million
8. Nominated for the Oscar for Best Sound
9. Sequels: The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

The Mummy was a highly successful blockbuster film, despite lackluster reviews. The film's success owed much to its spectacular special effects, created by Industrial Light & Magic. Most reviewers thought the film's story to be convoluted, and in the end, inconsequential, since the special effects were so good as to carry the film. In the film, Brendan Fraser plays an American in the French Foreign Legion who first encounters the Mummy during a battle with Arab forces outside the city of Hamunaptra. Rachel Weisz plays an Egyptologist (and later, Fraser's love interest) who is fascinated by the Mummy legend.