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Today:
Cohen directs 3rd 'Mummy' film in China
Posted: Oct 23, 2007 in Movies
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HONG KONG (AP) -- Rob Cohen has started shooting the third installment of "The Mummy" films starring Brendan Fraser in a desert valley north of Beijing.
In a blog entry on his "Mummy" Web site, Cohen says he's filming a battle scene between a family of explorers and a resurrected ancient Chinese emperor, played by Jet Li, and his 5,000 terra-cotta warriors.
He will later shoot a scene featuring the Chinese emperor racing through Shanghai's famous waterfront Bund in 1946 in a chariot drawn by four bronze horses.
Fraser is reprising his role as explorer Rick O'Connell in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor." Maria Bello plays his wife, Evelyn, and Luke Ford is son Alex.
Michelle Yeoh will portray a sorceress, and Russell Wong is one of the Chinese emperor's enemies brought back from the dead.
Cohen said the China shoot, which involves a crew of 2,000 people, has been helped by good weather.
The film is expected to be released next summer.
Someone explain how these crappy Mummy movies get greenlighted (greenlit?).
I think I have the answer. It all started with Universal wanting to resurrect The Mummy as a franchise (because remakes are the coolest thing since disaster movies), so they decided to retool it as an Indiana Jones ripoff starring Brendan Fraser. It was unfortunately very profitable, leading to a sequel, a prequel (The Scorpion King), a prequel to that prequel (The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian, coming soon to a video store near you), and now another sequel.
Actually I don't hate these movies, They're just throwaway pictures, not particularly great, but something to pass a couple of hours for the masses who could be watching any number of really good films instead and learn a little something while getting the same entertainment values.