The Mummy

The Mummy is a 1999 American action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo. A loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name, The Mummy follows adventurer and treasure hunter Rick O'Connell (Fraser) as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with librarian Evelyn Carnahan (Weisz) and her older brother Jonathan (Hannah), where they accidentally awaken Imhotep (Vosloo), a cursed high priest with supernatural powers. Development took years, with multiple screenplays and directors attached. Sommers successfully pitched his version of a more adventurous and romantic take on the source material. Filming took place in Morocco and the United Kingdom; the crew endured dehydration, sandstorms and snakes shooting on location in the Sahara Desert. Industrial Light & Magic provided many of the visual effects, blending live-action footage and computer-generated imagery to create Imhotep, while Jerry Goldsmith composed the orchestral score. The Mummy was theatrically released on May 7, 1999 by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed critical reviews but grossed $422.5 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1999. The film started a new franchise, with two direct sequels, The Mummy Returns in 2001 and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 2008, and various spinoffs such as an animated series, which ran from 2001 to 2003, and the prequel The Scorpion King in 2002, which led to sequels of its own. In 2017, an attempt was made to start another Universal Monsters franchise with The Mummy. An untitled fourth film is in development. Plot In Thebes, Egypt, 1290 BC, Pharaoh Seti I discovers that his high priest Imhotep has been having an affair with his mistress Anck-su-namun. The two kill Seti when he confronts them. Anck-su-namun takes her own life to buy Imhotep time to escape the Medjai, Pharaoh's bodyguards. Imhotep and his priests steal Anck-su-namun's corpse and travel to the city of Hamunaptra to resurrect her, but the Medjai intervene. As punishment, Imhotep's priests are mummified alive, while Imhotep is cursed and buried alive with flesh-eating scarabs. The Medjai are sworn to prevent Imhotep's return, as his resurrection would grant him immense power and immortality. In 1926 AD Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt, Jonathan Carnahan presents his sister, Evelyn—a librarian and aspiring Egyptologist working for museum curator Dr. Terence Bey—with an intricate box and map that lead to Hamunaptra, the existence of which is now considered a myth. Jonathan reveals he stole the box from American adventurer and treasure hunter Rick O'Connell, who discovered the city while in the French Foreign Legion three years earlier. Evelyn bargains with a corrupt prison warden to free the incarcerated Rick so he can take them to Hamunaptra, where she hopes to find the golden Book of Amun-Ra. The group finds themselves competing with an American expedition, guided by Rick's cowardly fellow former Legionnaire Beni Gabor. The Medjai ambush the expeditions, and their leader Ardeth Bay cautions them to leave. Ignoring the warnings, the two expeditions continue to dig through the ruins. The Americans find the Book of the Dead as well as five canopic jars, while Evelyn, Rick, and Jonathan accidentally discover Imhotep's mummified remains. That night, Evelyn steals the Book of the Dead from the rival camp, accidentally awakening the mummified Imhotep when she reads the text contained within. Following a confrontation with Imhotep as well as the Medjai, the expeditions flee back to Cairo. Imhotep spares Beni's life to serve as a translator when he discovers that Beni can speak Hebrew. Imhotep follows the expeditions back to Cairo and unleashes the biblical Plagues of Egypt. Those who discovered the Book of the Dead are hunted and killed by Imhotep, restoring his human form and strengthening his power. Attempting to find answers at the museum, Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan instead find Ardeth being hosted by Dr. Bey, revealed to be a fellow Medjai. The group surmises that Imhotep wants to resurrect Anck-su-namun using Evelyn as a human sacrifice, and that the only way to stop him is to return to Hamunaptra and find the Book of A Directed by Stephen Sommers Screenplay by Stephen Sommers Story by Stephen Sommers Lloyd Fonvielle Kevin Jarre Based on The Mummy by John L. Balderston Nina Wilcox Putnam Richard Schayer Produced by James Jacks Sean Daniel Starring Brendan Fraser Rachel Weisz John Hannah Arnold Vosloo Jonathan Hyde Kevin J. O'Connor Cinematography Adrian Biddle Edited by Bob Ducsay Music by Jerry Goldsmith Production companies Universal Pictures Alphaville Films[1] Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date May 7, 1999 (United States) Running time 125 minutes Country United States Languages English Arabic Egyptian[2] Budget $80 million[3] Box office $422.5 million[3]