JAPAN: BRENDAN FRASER ATTENDS THE TOKYO FILM PREMIERE OF ADVENTURE MOVIE "THE MUMMY RETURNS"

Record ID: 547163

  • Title: JAPAN: BRENDAN FRASER ATTENDS THE TOKYO FILM PREMIERE OF ADVENTURE MOVIE "THE MUMMY RETURNS"
  • Date: 23rd May 2001
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (MAY 23, 2001) (REUTERS) ***FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PAN FROM POSTER OF "THE MUMMY RETURNS" TO GLASS CASE CONTAINING COPY OF TUTANKHAMEN GOLD MASK WIDE OF PEOPLE ENTERING THE THEATRE FOR THE PREMIER OF "THE MUMMY RETURNS" SMV MAN HANDING OUT SOUVENIR PROGRAMMES SMV COPY OF TUTANKHAMEN MASK ON DISPLAY SMV, BRENDAN FRASER COMING IN THEATRE ON ESCALATOR SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASKED ABOUT THE HUGE SUCCESS OF "THE MUMMY RETURNS" IN THE UNITED STATES, FRASER SAYING: "I'm very happy. I'm quite humbled. And I think it's very popular because of the spirit of the film is being an epic adventure with great special effects, with reunited the cast and it's just better movie than the first one." SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASKED IF HE WILL BE STARRING IN ANY MORE SEQUELS TO "THE MUMMY" FRASER: "I haven't had that conversation yet, but I would consider it," WIDE OF AUDIENCE TAKING THEIR SEATS IN AUDITORIUM FOR PREMIERE SCU WOMAN FILMING WITH SMALL VIDEO CAMERA SMV BRENDAN FRASER APPEARING ON STAGE SMV MEDIA AND FANS TAKING PHOTOS SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRASER SAYING: "Take a deep breath," "You're going to take the last one for the next 96 minutes," WIDE OF WOMEN FANS FILMING WITH HANDY CAMERAS SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRASER SAYING: "Let's watch 'The Mummy Returns'. Thank you,"
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1DLJNCCWEV7BV900AXNC81CN
  • Story Text: "The Mummy Returns" premiered in Tokyo last night. The movie's star Brendan Fraser was there.
    When the first film opened in May of 1999, it surprised everyone by earning more than 43 million dollars in its first weekend. It was that very weekend that executives at Universal Pictures called writer/director Stephen Sommers and told him them wanted a sequel.
    Two years later, Sommers has delivered a sequel that retains much of the tongue-in-cheek humor and thrills of the first movie while expanding on its use of cutting edge special effects, delivered by John Berton and his team at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM.) As for the storyline, eight years have passed since the end of the first film and Rick and Evelyn, played again by Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, are married and living in London with their precocious son, played by newcomer Freddie Boath.
    But their version of domestic bliss is shattered when the ancient Egyptian priest Imhotep, again played by Arnold Vosloo, is resurrected and sets out on a quest to attain the undead army of the mythological warrior known as The Scorpion King.
    Sommers had a casting challenge for the role of the King because the actor had to be able to believably battle both Fraser and Vosloo, both physically imposing actors. In the end, he settled on the hugely popular wrestling superstar known as the Rock.
    It was obviously a wise choice, as Universal Studios decided after watching early footage of the Rock to spin off his character into his own film called "The Scorpion King,"
    which is now in production. Also returning from the first film are Oded Fehr, who again plays the shadowy desert sage Ardeth Bay, John Hannah as Evelyn's comic relief brother Jonathan, and Patricia Velasquez as Meela, the Mummy's reincarnated lover who helps resurrect him in the basement of the British Museum in London.
    Sommers and his team once again ventured to Morocco to films the desert sequences and to Shepperton Studios where ancient pyramids, palaces and temples were reconstructed. The crew also utilized the streets of London to film an exciting street chase and battle aboard a double-decker bus.
    As for the film's special effects, Sommers says the computer technology to achieve the visual effects in this second movie didn't even exist when they made the first film just two short years ago.
    ENDS
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