Geeky Friday: First Look at The Mummy III Pictorial Moviebook

Even though The Dark Knight is the hot ticket opening today, here’s a sneak peak at Newmarket Publishing’s The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Pictorial Moviebook (ISBN 978-1-55704-805-9. pap. $19.95). When it comes to film tie-in books, Newmarket has always been a personal fav. They’ve done some great titles over the years (Carl Gottlieb’s The Jaws Log still should be in every film collection in the country). Writer/director Stephen Sommers’s Mummy series has proven a huge hit with fans. For Mummy III, however,Sommer’s has vacated the director’s chair with Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) helming the film (he provides an intro).

Following Newmarket’s standard pattern, this offers a detailed folder on the film’s making, touching down on a little bit of everything—the actors, production, costumes, props, CG, art design, locations, etc., etc. M3 is set in China so has a different flavor than its desert- and jungle-based predecessors. The thing that makes or breaks film books is the illustrations and this has plenty of pix, story boards, concept art, screen grabs, design sketches, the works.

If you’ve never seen these films, know that protagonist Evie O’Connell is a librarian! The film opens August 1 and should be a big hit (it’s been a banner summer for geeky action films), so pick up a copy. It’ll only cost you $20. Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, here’s a bunch:
Costume design

Star Jet Li’s armor

Props of librarian Evie O’Connel’s books based on her previous adventures

The Diamond Eye of Shangri-la prop

Li as Yang

Weapons design

A yeti about to have lunch?