The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
News

In addition to Swing Vote opening this weekend, we also have The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor starring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.  However, unlike Swing Vote which is getitng mixed reviews, it looks like there's a consensus on the third Mummy movie: it sucks. 

Check out the sampling of reviews from around the web:

- The best news about this clangorous clunker is that it may well have vanquished the Mummy franchise. -- Wall Street Journal

- The new Mummy is, how can I put it? Just freakin' awful. -- Rolling Stone

- Tiresome and messy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor borrows mightily from the Indiana Jones franchise and various martial-arts films, but it doesn't do what those films did nearly as well. -- Washington Post

- You might not be able to kill a mummy but as "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" demonstrates, you can kill a franchise -- The Hollywood Reporter

With The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opening on Friday, the action adventure series starring Brendan Fraser is about to become a trilogy!

We decided we'd celebrate this trilogy that has also created two spin-offs by updating all three movies on our site.

The Mummy (1999)
The original The Mummy introduced us to Rick O'Connell, an unlikely hero that was serving as a captain of the French Foreign Legion until he joins forces with Evelyn, the librarian, and her brother Jonathan.  This movie set the formula where someone accidentally summons a mummy and our heroes must fight them off.  Enjoy the photo montage for a trip down memory lane.

The Mummy Returns (2001)
Released 2 years after the first, but 9 years in the The Mummy universe, we join back up with our hero, Rick O'Connel for The Mummy Returns.  Rick is now married to Evelyn and the two have an 8 year old child, Alex, together.  In the sequel, again, Imhotep is summoned again, however, he's not the only threat as Imhotep raises an even dead.  Relive the sequel that had even more special effects and introduced us to the acting skills of The Rock, err... Dwayne Johnson, with the following movie stills:

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
Opening this weekend, we'll be introduced to the third movie in the trilogy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.  This third movie takes place ten years later and in the Far East this time.  Rick, Evelyn, Jonathan, and their now grown-up son, Alex, are back to their mummy fighting ways.  Just how will this movie fare?  We'll bring you the reviews and updates as we have them!  For now, enjoy these photos that have been released for the movie.

Luke Ford is hoping to make a name for himself in America with his role in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

The Aussie recently spoke to IGN about his part in the Brendan Frasier franchise:

What is your role in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor?
If you've seen the other Mummy films, I'm the son all grown up. They're kind of prepping me to become either a massively significant part or to take over the series depending on where they want to go with it and also depending on what Brendan wants to do.

I'd love to work with Brendan again, and Maria Bello, she took over Rachel Weisz's character, and she's a ripper of an actress. Playing Alex O'Connell was a very big demanding role, in some ways more demanding than Black Balloon. 75% of the time I'm on screen is all action scenes; fighting, jumping, shouting and screaming.

Luke Ford stars in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

On August 1, Brendan Fraser fans are in for a treat:

Both of you can go see The Mummy 3; aka The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Here's the trailer for that follow-up film now:

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor director, Rob Cohen, gives us some updates on the latest installment of the Mummy franchise on his blog.

Here's a small excerpt:

There's more good news on "The Mummy" front: I have shown the film to the exec's at Universal and they are through-the-roof ecstatic. We screened a few weeks ago for all the relevant department heads (home video, distribution, foreign, p.r., marketing, etc.) and the reaction was unanimous. It's running around 1 hr. 53 minutes and, daily as we hone, it's taking its final shape. The studio has been very collaborative and supportive. You know they love it when they ask you if you need any more money to enhance the visual effects budget!!! Are there more shots that I want to do but didn't have the money to do?!!! Of course, the answer is yes; there is never enough to entertain the audience in any film. That kind of support from Chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde, President Donna Langley, and V.P.'s Jeff Kirschenbaum and Erik Baiers is rare in Hollywood so I am very pleased all the way around.

Cohen goes on to to talk a lot about what's keeping the movie in post production so long. You can read the full blog entry.

Here's the summary for the third film in the franchise of The Mummy. Brandon Frazier will return to the starring role, as he's joined by Asian sensation Jet Li:

The blockbuster global Mummy franchise takes a spellbinding turn as the action shifts to Asia for the next chapter in the adventure series, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Fraser returns as explorer Rick O'Connell to combat the resurrected Han Emperor (Li) in an epic that races from the catacombs of ancient China high into the frigid Himalayas.

Rick is joined in this all-new adventure by son Alex (newcomer Luke Ford), wife Evelyn (Maria Bello) and her brother, Jonathan (John Hannah). And this time, the O'Connells must stop a mummy awoken from a 2,000-year-old curse who threatens to plunge the world into his merciless, unending service.

Doomed by a double-crossing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) to spend eternity in suspended animation, China's ruthless Dragon Emperor and his 10,000 warriors have laid forgotten for eons, entombed in clay as a vast, silent terra cotta army.

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