Gauze and Effect: No. 1 for ‘Mummy’

Kicking off the lucrative summer movie season in record-setting fashion, “The Mummy Returns” grossed an estimated $70.1 million over the weekend, which would make it the largest box office debut ever for a film not opening over a holiday.

The only other film to make more money in its opening weekend was “The Lost World,” the “Jurassic Park” sequel that grossed $72.1 million over the first three days of the 1997 Memorial Day weekend.

Playing in 3,401 theaters, the special-effects-laden “Mummy Returns” astoundingly averaged more than $20,000 per screen--only the third wide-release film to ever hit that dollar mark (after “Lost World” and “Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace”).

The impressive performance by the sequel comes almost exactly two years after “The Mummy”--a loose remake of the 1932 classic starring Boris Karloff--opened with $43.4 million. Based on audience tracking surveys, Universal Pictures marketing chief Nikki Rocco was expecting the sequel to outdo its predecessor, “but $70 million? No one can anticipate that kind of number,” she intoned.

When checking out theaters Friday night, “Mummy” writer-director Stephen Sommers said he “knew something was up, because there were 80-year-old women as well as 8-year-old kids” in the audience.

“When the first ‘Mummy’ opened, we were elated,” said Sommers in a phone conversation Sunday morning. “This time we’re elated and stunned.” He says he has not begun to think about a third installment yet, though he did not dismiss the idea.

“I promised my wife and kids that after eight years of not shooting a single foot of film in this country, I would at least take the summer off.”

But the movie’s opening weekend performance and its long-term prospects virtually ensure a third installment in the action adventure series. Like “M:I--2” (the “Mission: Impossible” sequel), and the second Austin Powers comedy, “The Mummy Returns” looks to outgross the original, which took in $155 million in the U.S. and a giant $413 million worldwide.

“The Mummy Returns” brought back the cast from two years ago, including Brendan Fraser as hero Rick O’Connell, and introduced Dwayne Johnson (better known as wrestling icon The Rock) as a warrior called the Scorpion King. Featured heavily in trailers, Johnson actually has only a brief, wordless cameo, but Universal has already signed him to star in a film featuring the Scorpion King character, created as a reaction to the charisma the studio believes he showed in his small turn here.

Supported by better-than-average reviews--especially for a sequel--”Mummy Returns” arrived after a long drought at movie theaters, since the major studios are holding back their big guns for the next three months. Even so, no one was expecting it to beat “Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace,” which tabulated $64.8 million in mid-May two years ago.

The audience for “Mummy Returns” was slightly more male than female, with about half the audience under 25 years of age and a high ethnic quotient (24% of the entire audience was Latino). The satisfaction level was consistently strong. Even with an expected big second weekend drop-off (common with most sequels), “The Mummy Returns” will easily soar past $100 million, probably by Saturday morning, and should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with new arrivals like “A Knight’s Tale” and “Shrek” over the next two weeks, on through the highly anticipated “Pearl Harbor” on May 25.

With the potential of a disastrous Writers Guild strike now passed (pending members’ approval), the industry has been eagerly awaiting the beginning of what could prove to be a record summer season, when about 40% of the year’s movie tickets are sold. “The Mummy Returns” could be a portent of things to come. So far, 2001 is running about 14% ahead of last year, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, and “Mummy Returns” has kicked off the lucrative season, lifting the top 12 films to about $102 million, a cool 31% better than the same weekend last year, when “Gladiator” opened to $34.8 million.

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The rest of the top 12 films were so far behind “Mummy” that they barely registered. In its second weekend, “Driven” is riding on less than half a tank with a mighty 50% drop to just more than $6 million and about $21.5 million so far, which should be the lion’s share of its total take.

“Bridget Jones’s Diary,” however, is shaping into quite a performer with another $6 million expected in its fourth weekend and almost $45 million to date. Add to that an additional gross of more than $30 million in the U.K. alone, with most of the rest of the world still to come.

“Spy Kids” grossed an estimated $4 million in its sixth weekend, taking the family adventure to $98.5 million. This week it should become the second 2001 release (after “Hannibal”) to pass $100 million. Except for “Interview With the Vampire,” in which he had a supporting role, “Spy Kids” is now Antonio Banderas’ biggest hit, surpassing “The Mask of Zorro.”

In fifth place is “Along Came a Spider,” starring Morgan Freeman, which has turned into one of the better springtime performers with $3.8 million or so over its fifth weekend, enabling it to cross the $60-million mark.

“Crocodile Dundee in L.A.” looks to be the last in the series with a wan $3.2 million expected in its third weekend and only $18 million or so to date.

Seventh place fell to Johnny Depp in “Blow,” which took in an additional $2.4 million or so in its fifth weekend, raising it to just more than $44 million to date.

The vampire thriller “The Forsaken” dropped 50% to $1.5 million in its second weekend and a pallid $5.4 million so far. David Spade’s “Joe Dirt” also grossed a predicted $1.5 million in its fourth weekend, for almost $25 million to date. In 10th place was “One Night at McCool’s” with $1.3 million expected and a poor $4.7 million in two weeks.

Falling out of the top 10 in its second weekend is the $90-million debacle “Town & Country,” starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn, which fell to $1.3 million on 2,222 screens and a wretched $5.2 million to date.

Among limited openings, the champion is “Memento” (see related story), which crawled into the top 12 with about $1.2 million expected in its eighth weekend on 408 screens and $8.5 million to date. It tied with “Kingdom Come,” which was on 858 screens and has grossed $20.5 million.

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TOP OPENING WEEKENDS

(in millions)

1. “The Lost World”: $72.1

2. “The Mummy Returns”: $70.1*

3. “The Phantom Menace”: $64.8

4. “Hannibal”: $58

5. “Mission: Impossible 2”: $57.8

* estimate

Source: Exhibitor Relations