FAQ

Retired Egyptologists Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn "Evy" (Maria Bello) O'Connell are asked by archeology professor Roger Wilson (David Calder) to take the diamond "Eye of Shangri-La" back to China, where their archeologist son Alex (Luke Ford) has unearthed the mummy of an ancient Chinese Emperor (Jet Li) who was long ago cursed, along with his entire army, by the witch Zi Yuan (Michelle Yeoh). While there, they meet up with Evy's brother Jonathan (John Hannah), now the owner of a nightclub in Shanghai, and encounter the evil General Yang (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong), who wants to resurrect the Emperor and his army. Aided by Zi's immortal daughter Lin (Isabella Leong), three yetis, and an army of undead soldiers, the O'Connells must prevent the Emperor from taking over the world.

Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third movie in The Mummy series, preceded by The Mummy (1999) (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001) (2001). The screenplay was co-written by American screenwriter Alfred Gough and British screenwriter Miles Millar. A novelization, also titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, written by American writer Max Allan Collins (who also novelized the first two movies), was released concurrently with the movie.

The film was patterned in part on a real-life Qin Dynasty emperor Qin Shi Huang [260-210 BCE], known for unifying the Great Wall of China as it existed at the time and for his search for an elixir of immortality. He was buried in a mausoleum that also contained thousands of terracotta soldiers, horses, and chariots, collectively called the Terracotta Army.

The U.K.-based ES Magazine had an interview with Rachel Weisz in the Nov. 16 issue. Her decision not to reprise Evelyn's role seems to be a part of being a mother and not being able to fit it into her schedule. She's quoted saying "I would have had to go to China for three months and I just can't travel like that any more." However, according to sources close to the production of Mummy 3 (as reported by Eonline, Cinemablend and iesb.net) Rachel did not like the bad script and chose not to do the film.

In the previous films, Ardeth Bay was the guardian of Imhotep's tomb which was in Egypt. Imhotep is not in this film nor is the Egyptian setting, so Ardeth has no need to be a part of this scenario.