Gerard Butler had a failed Mummy movie before Brendan Fraser’s hit

The Stephen Sommers film was released in 1999 The mummywith Brendan Fraserkilled it at the box office. The film, which grossed more than $400 million and entertained audiences with its action-adventure story, proved that there was interest in mummy projects for perhaps the first time since the 1930s. This interest was somewhat surprising since a huge bomb had been released the year before: Russell Mulcahy’s Tale of the Mummy – Yes, the director included his name in the official title – with a babyfaced in the lead role Gerard Butler in his third feature film ever. Despite their similar theme, The mummy And Story of the mummy couldn’t be more different. So why was one film so successful and the other so… not?

“The Mummy” filmmakers were better prepared

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Story of the mummy

Fifty years ago, Sir Richard Turkel (Christopher Lee) encountered disaster while exploring the supposedly cursed tomb of the ancient Egyptian tyrant Talos. Now his granddaughter, archaeologist Samantha Turkel (Louise Lombard), eagerly picks up where she left off, delving into its depths to uncover the Sarcophagus of Talos. But shortly after the artifacts are transferred from the grave to a London museum, a strange series of murders begins to plague the city. Perplexed local detectives ask Samantha for help.

Release date

March 19, 1998

director

Russell Mulcahy

Duration

88 minutes

Pour

Jason Scott Lee, Louise Lombard, Sean Pertwee, Lysette Anthony, Michael Lerner, Jack Davenport, Honor Blackman, Shelley Duvall, Christopher Lee, Gerard Butler, Jon Polito, Ronan Vibert, Bill Treacher

writer

John Esposito

The mummy is based on a funny, adventurous story about a resurrected mummy and a treasure hunter. Rated PG-13, the film was suitable for the whole family and was considered good viewing by critics. In the meantime, Story of the mummy feels more like a B-movie horror film – and even fails – in trying to tell the story of archaeologists and an ancient tomb from three different time periods. With poor pacing, a confusing narrative, and a distinct lack of gore or scares despite billing itself as a horror film, the film left viewers confused and disappointed. Story of the mummy It offers little suspense, which eliminates it as a successful thriller, and it was too cheesy to be taken seriously.

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It is possible that the discrepancy in pre-production efforts contributed to the stark differences between the two films. The mummyThe producers worked on their adaptation of the 1932 film of the same name for nearly a decade, swapping writers and directors until their vision was perfect. If they hadn’t done it, The mummy could have turned out completely differently. Meanwhile, Russell Mulcahy and his collaborator Keith Williams have invented something Story of the mummy Late 1995, and filming began less than two years later.

Mulcahy and Sommers had similar inspirations

Interestingly, both films were inspired by earlier works, although they all harken back to Karl Freund’s 1932 classic The mummy. Mulcahy acknowledged his love for Hammer Film Productions’ The mummy (1959) – which in turn was inspired by The mummy’s hand (1940) and its sequel, The mummy’s grave (1942) – for suggesting his idea; Both reuse footage from the 1932 project. Meanwhile, Sommers’ film was a direct adaptation of Freund’s. It seems that Mulcahy tried to put his own spin on the classics, which deserves credit, but obviously Sommer’s reuse of a successful idea proved more fruitful.

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Tale of the Mummy had embarrassing special effects

One of the biggest criticisms History of the mummy were its abysmal special effects and jarring CGI. Some of it was so bad that it even caused unintentional laughter from the audience, largely due to the poor animatronics that didn’t even allow the characters to move their mouths properly. For a borderline monster story – the reincarnated mummy goes on a murder spree to steal people’s organs, which turns out to be a lot less interesting than it sounds – it’s obvious that the filmmakers haven’t fully thought through how they’re doing it wanted monsters to be credible. Some viewers found the film entertaining, but mostly because they laughed at it, certainly not with It.

Alternatively, The mummy hired several reputable special effects companies to work on the film from the early stages of development through release. By combining high-quality CGI, makeup, prosthetics and live action, the film created a believable atmosphere that didn’t take the viewer out of the story. To be fair, Story of the mummy worked on a budget of $10 million, which is much more than a typical horror film at the time, but far less than the $80 million The mummy had available. In fact, more money was spent on it The mummySpecial effects as History of the mummythe entire budget.

Casting decisions can make or break a project

Another thing that separates The story of the mummy out of The mummy is its cast. The former had some decent names but couldn’t do justice to its actors. For example, legendary horror film veteran Sir Christopher Lee is briefly seen in the film’s opening scenes before his character promptly dies in a cloud of ancient dust and his own stupidity. Other stars include martial artist Jason Scott Lee and Louise Lombard, who eventually became known through their tenure CSI: Crime Scene Investigationand popular live-action and voice actor Sean Pertwee, who later played the role of Alfred Pennyworth Gotham. Unfortunately, none of the people mentioned above were able to reach their full potential.

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And finally an already famous Gerard Butler appears – before he became a Hollywood star with romantic comedies PS: I love you And The ugly truth or action films like 300 And Den of thieves (which became a franchise with the highly anticipated 2024 Den of Thieves 2: Pantera). He plays a member of an archaeological team who falls to his death halfway through the film – another idiotic fate of his own making. Even if Butler had been further along in his career and gained more talent or exposure, this role probably wouldn’t have turned out better for him. In fact, as of 2024, it appears that he has never spoken publicly about being part of it Story of the mummysuggesting that he might like to let the film fade into obscurity, a forgotten blot on an otherwise fairly successful resume.

Fraser connects with the audience

On the other hand, The mummy The main actors are Brendan Fraser, treasure hunter Rick O’Connell and Rachel Weisz. His role was considered by heavyweights like Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, showing how much bigger this production was compared to Mulcahy’s. At this point, Fraser had already made his breakthrough in the industry and had almost ten years of experience.

Fraser performed all of his own stunts – which, according to rumors, almost led to his death in some particularly dangerous scenes – and was keen to make his role believable. As he told the Los Angeles Times in 2023, “Rick is someone who has a lot of hot-tempered energy. He doesn’t take anything too seriously. But if you play Rick and don’t believe in the realities of this movie, then your audience won’t either.

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Leaving a legacy (or not)

Fortunately, audiences managed to identify with Fraser, and he earned repressive performances in the series’ two sequels: The mummy returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), now streaming on Peacock. We will celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2024 The mummy has proven its longevity by still remaining relevant, and even Fraser is on board for another possible sequel. Meanwhile, Mulcahy’s failed mummy attempt has become a relic locked in his own grave, and many of his cast are distancing themselves from the project.

Since then, Mulcahy has turned his attention to television directing, most notably working on ” Teen Wolf during its six seasons, which proved to be a much more successful endeavor. Ironically, Mulcahy was set to direct one of the cheesy sequels to The Scorpion King, a spin-off of Brendan Fraser’s Mummy films. There is an argument for that The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior is better than bad Russell Mulcahy’s Tale of the Mummyalthough it is a low bar. You can watch Mulcahy’s film below:

Watch “Tale of the Mummy”.