the mummy returns landed in the North America market with an ultra-large scale of over 3,400 theaters. Building on the foundation laid by the mummy and the added effects of big investment, big production, and ultra-large-scale promotion in this era, it swept away $23.38 million from North America on its first day of release, which was Friday of that week. This was also the highest single-day box office performance in the North America film market since the start of 2001.
By Saturday, the single-day box office for the mummy returns rose another fifteen percent, taking in $26.91 million from 3,401 theaters.
In just two days, the film's North America box office exceeded $50 million, making it a complete commercial triumph.
However, the film's reputation was very average. The two-day rating on IMDB was only 6.5, while Rotten Tomatoes was a total disaster with a freshness of only forty-seven percent and an average score of 5.2. Compared to the mummy, the decline in reputation was quite obvious.
"This sequel keeps adding jokes and showing off digital special effects, but forgets the most important thing: the plot."
Professional film critics were very dismissive of the film.
"The film simply didn't reach the heights of the mummy. There are huge flaws in the logic of the story, and the lead actor Brendan Fraser gave a poor performance, appearing very mediocre."
"The mistake of the mummy returns was abandoning characterization. In particular, Brendan's character only stays on the surface, treating the plot as nothing more than a clothesline for special effects and action scenes. If it didn't rely on the 1999 the mummy, this sequel wouldn't even have a plot to speak of."
In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert's column review was sharp and to the point.
On the Metacritic website, ratings from thirty-one professional media outlets were collected, and the mummy returns had an average score of only 48.
This website specializes in collecting reviews for movies, TV shows, music albums, and games. The site integrates the scores from each review to create an overall score for the project. In the project's many short reviews, they are listed from best to worst. The best scores are green, moving down to yellow and red for the lowest scores. Because of this, Metacritic scores are often used as a reference by many companies.
Of course, there were still positive reviews.
"For most audiences, the film is still a brand-new movie full of magical colors. The exciting adventure, grand battle scenes, excellent computer special effects, and strong visual impact will leave the audience stunned."
This kind of review seemed more like a promotional advertisement specifically put out by Universal Pictures,
using the most concise language to highlight the film's biggest selling points.
Regardless of the evaluations from the media and film critics, it was already an unchangeable fact that the mummy returns had exploded at the North America box office in its opening week.
However, the negative word-of-mouth would inevitably affect the box office trend of the mummy returns moving forward.
"Those people really love to nitpick."
In Helen Herman's office at Angel Talent Agency, Matthew sat in a swivel chair, spinning back and forth as he said to Helen Herman, "This is just a commercial entertainment film. Isn't it enough for everyone to watch it and have a good laugh? Why must they be so particular about this and that..."
Helen Herman wasn't busy at the moment. She opened the green tea Matthew had sent, brewed two cups, placed one on the table in front of him, and said, "Nitpicking? That's a very apt way to describe film critics; that is their job and their reason for existing."
She said to Matthew very seriously, "Don't look down on film critics. In the future, when you want to win awards, their criticism will make you seem worthless."
Matthew nodded. To be able to land a column in a newspaper, they definitely weren't ordinary people. Americans were more focused on commercial interests. Based on what he had seen and heard in Hollywood, if those professional film critics had no value, would the newspapers give them columns?
"I just feel that for an entertainment movie like the mummy returns, there's no need to be so harsh." Matthew picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "is the movie not good? They all gave it such low scores."
Helen Herman put down her teacup and said, "the mummy returns is indeed an entertaining movie, but entertaining doesn't necessarily mean good." She took the initiative to end the topic, saying, "I've received word that senior executives at Universal Pictures have hired a professional research firm to conduct surveys of live audiences at popular theaters in major cities across the country."
Matthew was puzzled. "What are they investigating that for?"
"I'm not entirely sure either." Helen Herman shook her head. "I suspect Universal Pictures is planning something."
She asked Matthew, "Didn't you hear any related news while you were with the Crew?"
"No." Matthew spread his hands. "I haven't been involved in the early promotion, so I don't know what they're planning to do."
If even Helen Herman didn't know, a minor actor like him certainly wouldn't.
"Let's not talk about that." Helen Herman sat back behind her desk and opened her laptop, saying, "The reaction to your character has been very good. Many media outlets and fans consider the scorpion king to be one of the highlights of the film."
Speaking of this, Matthew was in a quite good mood. "is this what they call getting a return on your investment?"
Helen Herman, however, said, "In this industry, effort doesn't always lead to a return."
Matthew shrugged and stood up to take his leave. "You're always bringing down my good mood. I'd better go home and have a drink by myself to celebrate."
"Mm." Helen Herman didn't try to keep him. "Don't disturb me for the next couple of days. I'm planning how to use the reaction generated by the scorpion king to create even more momentum for you."
On the way home, Matthew bought a bunch of the latest entertainment newspapers and magazines. Returning to his house north of Burbank, he immediately searched for news related to himself.
Unlike his minor role in band of brothers, he played the ultimate villain in the mummy returns. Many newspapers mentioned the scorpion king when reporting on the mummy returns.
For example, Entertainment Weekly gave the mummy returns a column report, which included a sentence that Matthew read over a dozen times: In this mediocre film, the biggest highlight belongs to the scorpion king played by Matthew Horner; this character, where wickedness and dominance coexist, makes a stunning appearance that is unforgettable.
At Universal Studios, in an office area belonging to Universal Pictures, a dozen people were gathered in a conference room for a discussion.
"We should continue to release sequels to the mummy series, just like we did two years ago."
Jet Bretton, the deputy director of the production department at Universal Pictures, said, "rather than shifting our target and direction."
Several people beside him nodded, and one of them chimed in, "Judging from the current situation, the mummy returns has exploded at the North America box office. The final North America box office might exceed $200 million. There's no reason for us not to make a sequel."
The person presiding over the meeting was Philip Clayston, the director of the production department. He turned to look at Sean Daniel on the other side of the conference table and said, "Sean, you're the producer for this series. What's your opinion?"
"I believe we should be cautious about making a sequel!" Sean Daniel's expression was serious; no one present knew this series better than he did. "I need to admit one thing: the reputation of the mummy returns isn't good—one could even say it's somewhat poor. The reason the film's box office is still decent is mainly due to the good foundation laid by the first one. The high box office of the mummy returns is consuming the popularity and support accumulated by the mummy during its two years in theaters and the video market."
He looked at the people opposite him and said, "the mummy returns is very likely to exhaust most of the accumulated enthusiasm of the fans. If we follow up with a third installment immediately, we'll spread the influence of the negative word-of-mouth to the maximum."
He and Stephen Sommers hadn't considered filming a sequel to the mummy returns from the start, and neither of them knew how the story should develop next. If they forced a shoot, the risk of failure would increase greatly.
Although the two had had disagreements before, they were united on matters involving their interests.
Jet Bretton was somewhat unwilling. "Are we just going to give up on this series? It would be such a pity not to make a sequel for a movie with such a high box office."
"It's not giving up, it's temporarily shelving it!" Sean Daniel clearly had an idea. "We'll use time to let the film continue to ferment in the disc and video markets to attract more fans. Then, we wait three to five years until the impact of the negative reputation lessens and the audience's expectations have recovered before releasing a sequel. The effect will be much better."
Seeing that Jet Bretton opposite him was about to speak again, he cut in, "I'd also like everyone to pay attention to one matter: the issue with the lead actor, Brendan Fraser."
Jet Bretton thought of the negative reviews Brendan Fraser had attracted and swallowed the words he was about to say.
Sean Daniel continued, "Brendan Fraser has poor self-discipline and has noticeably gained weight. It might become even more obvious in the next two years. We are making action-adventure movies, not comedies; we can't have a fat man as the lead. Part of the negative reviews for the mummy returns came from Brendan Fraser; fans don't seem to like him anymore. If we start sequel production now, do we use him or not? If we use him, since the second film was a hit, how much will he want for the third? Twenty million dollars? is he worth that salary? The risk could double!"
"That is indeed a problem." Director Philip Clayston had also seen a lot of criticism of Brendan Fraser in the newspapers. "An actor the audience doesn't like can drag down the entire film."
"So, we might as well wait and see for now," Sean Daniel suggested. "If Brendan Fraser is willing to actively work out and his subsequent films perform well, we can have him continue as the lead actor when we restart the the mummy series! If he's even worse in a few years than he is now, we'll give up on him. Doesn't OConnell have a son? We can fast-forward the film's timeline and have OConnell's grown-up son be the lead actor. This way, we can also connect the sequel with the previous films."
"Mm." Director Philip Clayston nodded slightly. "That is indeed the most stable approach. the mummy series is currently our key profit project; we can't let it be ruined carelessly."
Jet Bretton thought for a moment and asked, "Just shelving the series like this? The board of directors might have something to say about it."
Sean Daniel took over, "That brings me to the second thing I wanted to say: Stephen Sommers has new considerations for this series."