Sunday, August 3, 2008

New Release The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a 2008 American adventure film that follows The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. It was released on August 1, 2008 in the US.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is directed by Rob Cohen and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel, Stephen Sommers and James Jacks produce the film.

The emperor on which this fictitious account was based was Qin Shi Huang and not the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Han.

The film begins with a narration about the rise to power of Emperor Han, the Dragon Emperor. He conquered all his enemies, many of whom were buried under the Great Wall of China, and mastered the five elements, but could not conquer death. To that end, he sought the help of Zi Yuan, who knew where to find the secret of immortality. Han declares to his first in command, General Ming, that no one is to touch her; however, the two fell in love during their search. After Zi Yuan supposedly casts the immortality spell on Han, he ushers Zi Yuan to the balcony to watch as General Ming is pulled apart by horses. He then stabs Zi Yuan. She reveals that she has in fact cursed the Emperor and his army, turning them into stone statues, and manages to escape.

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The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor





















Cast
Actor Character
Brendan Fraser Richard "Rick" O'Connell
Jet Li Emperor Han
Maria Bello Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell
John Hannah Jonathan Carnahan
Michelle Yeoh Zijuan
Luke Ford Alexander "Alex" O'Connell
Isabella Leong Lin
Russell Wong General Ming Guo
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang General Yang
Liam Cunningham Mad Dog Maguire
David Calder Roger Wilson
Jessey Meng Choi
Tian Liang Li Zhou
Albert Kwan Chu Wah
Jacky Wu Assassin #1 (as Wu Jing)

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The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor













Production


In November 2001, director Stephen Sommers, who directed the previous Mummy films, said about directing a third Mummy film, "There's a demand for it, but most of the gang would only be up for it again if we could find a way to make it bigger and better." In May 2004, Sommers expressed his doubts about having the energy to make a third Mummy, though the cast of previous films had expressed interest in returning. In December 2005, a review of a script written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar was about a Chinese mummy (China's first emperor, who wants to take over the world with his army of accursed warriors in 1940). The idea of the emperor and his army is based on the real-life Qin emperor Qin Shi Huang, who was buried amidst thousands of crafted and fired terra cotta soldiers, called the Terracotta Army, dated at latest to 210 BC. (Incidentally, the Terracotta Army is actually mentioned at the end of the novelization as something that will be discovered in the future, although its relation to the emperor's army, or rather how the destroyed army made it into the site is left unexplained.)

Casting

In March 2006, actor Oded Fehr said Sommers had told him a third film was in development and being written, with only Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz's characters returning for the sequel. The following September, director Joe Johnston was offered the helm by Universal Pictures, who hoped to start filming early in 2007. Later in the month, Weisz expressed interest in reprising her role.

In January 2007, Universal announced that Stephen Sommers, director of the first two Mummy films, would not be attached to direct the third film. It was then announced that Universal entered talks with director Rob Cohen to take the helm from Sommers as the director of the third Mummy. Later in the month, the story was revealed to center around Brendan Fraser's and Rachel Weisz's characters, as well as their now grown-up son. Negotiations with the actors were in progress at that time. In February, casting began for the role of Alex O'Connell. In addition, the character of Jonathan, previously portrayed by John Hannah, will return for the sequel. Also in February, director Rob Cohen mentioned that Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh will star in the movie although the official confirmation was not published until May.

In April, Fraser re-joined the cast for The Mummy 3. Weisz did not, citing "problems with the script."The film was shot in Montreal and China. The movie was reported to be titled The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. In April, Luke Ford was cast as Alex O'Connell, and in May, Maria Bello was cast to replace Weisz in the role of Evelyn. Bello reported during an interview that the new "Evy" is different from the original "Evy". "She has the same name, but she's quite a different character," said Bello. At a news conference in Shanghai, Bello told the audience that "Rob Cohen has 'created a new Evy ... in the first two Mummy's she was all actiony and lovely, but this Evy might be a little more ... forceful in terms of her martial art skills and shooting skills'".

Filming


Principal photography started at Mel’s Cite du Cinema in Montreal. There, the Eye of Shangri-la scenes were shot by production designer Nigel Phelps.The team then shot on the courtyard set of gateway to Shangri-la. The courtyard was dressed with fake snow, created by effects supervisor Bruce Steinheimer’s team.

At the ADF stage in the city, Phelps’s team created sets of the Terra Cotta mausoleum. Set decorator, Anne Kuljian made 20 different statue heads and interchanged between shots. One soldier and horse statue was bought from China, and then copies of it were made in a workshop in Montreal. Propmaster Kim Wai Chung supervised the making of the horses’ bridles and mausoleum ornaments in China. Meanwhile at Mel’s the brutal battle between the Emperor and Rick, the first scene shot with Jet Li.

On October 15 2007, the team moved to China. At Shanghai Studios, an set depicting the city in 1940's was used for the chase sequence shot in 3 weeks. Gen. Yang’s camp was filmed in a Ming village near Tian Mo. at the studio, Chinese cultural advisers aided Cohen in order to depict the Qin Dynasty language and ceremonies.

The crew frequently had to halt in and near Shanghai when soldiers marched. The setting of desert battlefield was actually a training facility for the Chinese army that was leased.

Effects

The visual effects were done by two Los Angeles-based VFX houses. Rhythm and Hues designed the yetis and dragons, while Digital Domain will handle the battle scenes with Jet Li's terracotta warriors. The pool of water resembling diamonds took Rhythm and Hues 11 months to complete. The award winning A.I software Massive which was used on Lord of the Rings will be used to create the undead battle scenes.

Design company Imaginary Forces created the opening title sequence and end titles. IF designers also shot real paint splatters and brushstrokes. To portray an "accurate and historic China," they turned to calligrapher T.Z. Yuan for ink brush writing.

Music

The bulk of the score in the movie is composed by veteran composer Randy Edelman. The soundtrack will feature numerous different Chinese and Middle Eastern ethnic instruments along with classic British folklore, and is expected to be released on July 29 by Varese Sarabande records, two days before the film's initial release. Composer John Debney provided additional re-scored material for most of the bigger action sequences, which was recorded in July 2008.

Marketing

The Mummy Movie Prequel: The Rise & Fall of Xango's Ax, a comic book limited series by IDW Publishing, will be published to promote the film. The comic explores the relationship between Rick and his son Alex.

The trailer for the film debuted on May 16, 2008.

Sierra Entertainment made a game version of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for Wii, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, which was released on July 22, 2008 in North America. Gameloft made game version of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for mobile phones.

Release

Premiere was in LA on July 27, 2008.

The first official trailer of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released with this film. The film will have a wide release of 3,759 theatres in North America on Aug 1 2008.

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