Did anyone else have “The 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy returning to theaters” on their 2024 movie schedule bingo card? I certainly didn’t, but considering this year was the 25th anniversary of Stephen Sommers’ horror/adventure/rom-com starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, it was the perfect time for that throwback.
What’s better is that thanks to another fun blast from the past, Weisz’s recollections of the intensely hot experience of making that first Mummy movie have resurfaced from the depths of entertainment journalism. Fellow fans of this beautiful “adventure romp” should take a moment to rejoice with me, as ET Online released a rare reel of interview footage from The Mummy’s 1998 on-location shoot.
With those clips came stories of how the production was quite taxing, including Rachel Weisz’s story about the heat of the moment:
It’s been hard in terms of that it’s been very hot. But no, it’s been fun. The whole movie’s very very fun. It’s like a big, fun adventure romp. We’ve had real fun making it. … It’s just hard in that when it’s 140 degrees, it’s as hot as 140 degrees. It’s just hot hot hot hot hot. You have to sit very still, like a lizard sometimes, just to conserve your energy. Just ‘cause [it’s] just hot.
I’m kind of feeling the heat after reading Rachel’s description of getting through The Mummy experience, which is totally valid as the film did hit up the Moroccan desserts to capture its tale of the cursed afterlife. Or, to piggyback off of how Brendan Fraser put it in this very same clip, a guy who wakes up and misses his girlfriend, but decides to throw a tantrum of Biblical proportions to get her back. Even supernatural beings like Arnold Vosloo's Imothep don't want to hang around the desert for longer than they have to.
Here are some further explorations into CinemaBlend’s coverage of The Mummy’s silver anniversary, now 100% free of ancient curses! (Cup of coffee sold separately. Sorry Brendan!)
Looking back at this vintage Mummy coverage also shows a bit of Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser’s uncertainty that the 1999 blockbuster would perform even half as well as it did. However, that skepticism understandably came from a history of development hell that saw this project move through around a decade of changing hands, as well as story treatments.
With that in mind, going through all of that heated history to make a potential box office dud would have been painful. However, it does sound like Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and even John Hannah did have a lot of fun during that experience. So maybe they'd still have told these stories fondly if The Mummy Returns wasn't guaranteed to happen.
As some would tell you in their analysis of the late ‘90s, a cultural shift was happening at the box office that didn’t know what audiences wanted. I believe we’re in the middle of another sort of shift of that order right now, as reports of Furiosa’s complicated opening weekend seem to have indicated that the film had missed its money mark. With that in mind, I'm kind of further convinced that maybe it’s time for The Mummy’s potential resurrection after all.
Surely this year's theatrical rollout made enough money to show the enduring power of this property, right? Should we be lucky enough to see that come to pass, let’s hope that there’s a proper mix of practical shooting locations and select backlot shoots. If only so the magic touch that made those movies so perfect to behold can be maintained while keeping Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser in a comfortable level of danger and heat.
Mummy fans, don’t fret. While there’s no official news of any sort of continuation of the adventures of Rick and Evelyn, we still have those first two films to treasure and enjoy. And if you’ve got a Peacock subscription, you can do just that, as that platform is the current home to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, at the time of this publication.
