How US-China co-production The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, buried a billion-dollar franchise
- The third film in the series was a total flop, destroyed by one-dimensional characters, awful dialogue and terrible CGI
- The low point may be when Anthony Wong punches a CGI yeti in the Himalayas; plans for the next sequel were quickly forgotten about
Despite the success of The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), when it came to the belated second sequel, things did not look good.
For the 2008 film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, director Stephen Sommers handed over the reins to Rob Cohen (xXx); Rachel Weisz declined the offer to return; and Brendan Fraser was in terrible physical shape after years of impromptu stunt work. “By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China, I was put together with tape and ice,” he told GQ.
What it did have, however, was a lucrative co-production deal with China. To make the most of this investment, Jet Li Lianjie and Michelle Yeoh would co-star; major sequences would be set and shot in China; and the plot would serve up a cartoonified version of Chinese mythology.
Before the film begins, you can see the baton being passed from West to East. Underneath the Universal logo is a globe showing the Americas and Europe. The difference this time is that it spins round to Asia and closes in on China, where the prologue takes place.
