LONDON — “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” continues its assault on the European box office this weekend with openings in the U.K., Germany and France.
Long-dormant “Mummy” franchise returned successfully in Spain last weekend but will do well this weekend to hold top spot from hyped opener “Wall-E.”
In the U.K., “Dragon Emperor” is the big new release of the weekend. Pic enters a competitive marketplace where “The Dark Knight,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Wall-E” are all showing good traction.
Commercial expectations are reasonably solid given the last release in the “Mummy” series – “The Mummy Returns” (2001) – took $28.8 million at U.K. wickets. “Dragon Emperor” has divided the Brit crix. “The ‘Mummy’ franchise now really is dead, dead, dead,” declared the Guardian, adding, “This movie is just a shiny, sparkly device for making money; it's like watching a slot machine.” “It’s no masterpiece, but for good-natured escapism, the latest ‘Mummy’ adventure gives Indiana a run for his money,” said the Times.
Other nationwide releases include Kate Winslet-narrated nature film “The Fox and the Child” (Pathe) and pre-teen dance movie fantasy “Make It Happen” (Optimum Releasing). Both pics are hard pushed to find auds given kids are honed in on “Dragon Emperor,” “Wall-E” and “Dark Knight.”
In Spain, U's chart-topper “Dragon Emperor” is expected to lose some gas, due to the arrival of BVI's "Wall-E," which opened Wednesday on a wide-ish 498. Pixar robot romancer reaped a promising first two-day take of $1.6 million according to BVI Spain.
Exhibitors are optimistic about "Wall-E” and some reckon it could even pull in earnings similar to "Dragon Emperor," which pulled an impressive $6.4 million in its first frame.
Crix were unanimously upbeat about this toon cyber fable. "It combines technical perfection, true poetry and a lot of risk," glowed El Pais. For La Razon, helmer Andrew Stanton is "unusually gifted for making poetry with a minimum of resources."
Warner's “The Dark Knight” will bow on Aug. 13 but its looming presence on the horizon is already being felt. The surprise of this week is the modest 127-copy limited release of “Mamma Mia!” – already a bona fide hit elsewhere in Europe.
“‘Dark Knight’ is seen as a dark menace for the rest of competitors. Maybe this is the reason behind this surprisingly limited bow for ‘Mamma Mia!’,” suggested one booker.
"Mamma Mia" will broaden its copy spread Wednesday Aug. 13 to 390.
The avalanche of Spanish openings this weekend includes David Leland's "Virgin Territory" (Aurum), Griffin Dunne's "Fierce People” (Filmax), Pierre Morel's "Taken" (Fox), and David Mamet's "Redbelt” (Sony).
Fantasy films fight it out in Germany, where Universal’s “Dragon Emperor” takes on current chart topper “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.”
Hot summer weather has taken its toll on Hollywood tentpoles and it remains to be seen whether the latest installment in the aging “Mummy” franchise can overpower the “Narnia” sequel.
“The Mummy Returns” enjoyed a boffo opening weekend in May 2001, taking in the equivalent of $10 million (Euros 6.6 million) in its first four days.
Local critics have largely agreed that “Dragon Emperor” fails to hold up to its predecessors, however. Daily newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung called it the “worst installment of the ‘Mummy’ project, a chaotic mix of pyromania, attention deficit and budget pomposity.”
Sergej Bodrow’s Genghis Khan epic “Mongol,” going out via X Verleih/Warner, is generating strong buzz and is likely to attract plenty of action fans as well as history buffs.
Counterprogramming against the male-aimed actioners, a slew of arthouse dramas, comedies and melodramas are also hitting theaters, including Kinostar’s “Factory Girl,” about Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick; Senator’s “Fireflies in the Garden”; Concorde’s U.K. chick comedy “St. Trinian's,” and Oliver Jahn’s local satire “Die Eisbombe” (The Ice Bomb), about a neurotic phobia-filled family dealing with a possible environmental catastrophe, which goes out via Neue Visionen.
In France, “Dragon Emperor” enjoyed the tenth best bow of 2008 to date in Gaul, raking in $1.3 million on 557 for Universal on Aug. 6.
A double whammy of summer blockbuster burnout and franchise fatigue had the French scribes grumbling. “A bit of humor, a heap of monsters and a few big brawls: an ersatz distraction borrowed from Indiana Jones,” said Telerama. “Indiana Jones-inspired deja vu,” echoed Le Monde.
Retro English robbery caper “The Bank Job” made a decent $217,330 on 160 via Metropolitan.
Gallic helmer Agnes Merlet’s English-language spine-tingler “Dorothy Mills” earned Mars $109,250 on 120. The supernatural pic about strange goings-on in a remote Irish village was well received by Gallic crix. Les Inrockuptibles called it a “fantastic thriller, carried by two superb actresses” – Carice van Houten and Jenn Murray.
Additional reporting by Ed Meza (Germany), David Hayhurst (France), and Emilio Mayorga (Spain).
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