An article concerning Halloween Horror Nights 1999 (Hollywood) written by Martin A. Grove from the Hollywood Reporter:
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"Mummy" maze: Blockbuster movies are the fuel that drives the range of businesses operated by Hollywood's global giant entertainment companies.
A case in point is Universal's "The Mummy," which -- after grossing $158 million in domestic theaters and about $206 million internationally -- is about to come to life as a Halloween theme park attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood. Stephen Sommers, who wrote and directed the movie and is developing its sequel, directed the creation of Universal Studios' the Mummy Maze.
Using original props from the Alphaville production, produced by James Jacks and Sean Daniel and starring Brendan Fraser, Mummy Maze opens Oct. 15 for three weekends as part of the theme park's elaborate "Halloween Horror Nights III" interactive haunted encounter.
"We knew from the beginning that Universal had the film in the plan and we thought, `What an incredible chance for us to work synergistically with our film partners here,'" said Pat Moloney, vp entertainment at Universal Studios Hollywood. "So we started from the beginning looking at doing `The Mummy' We actually (began) planning in earnest in January and started talking to the production team about the film. Then we reapproached Stephen after the movie was released (in May) to see what degree of involvement, if any, he'd want to have with creating the maze."
"I brought it up about a year and a half ago when we were in pre-production," Sommers said. "I had a green light and was going to make the movie. They started talking about making toys and games, and I said the one thing Universal Studios doesn't have is a haunted house. What better place to have the Mummy run an underground necropolis of some sort? I kind of jokingly threw that (idea) out there a year and a half ago. My editor (Bob Ducsay) and I always talked (about how) if it was ever a big hit, maybe we'd get our wish and have our own little theme park ride at the studio."
Sommers' enthusiasm for the project was a big help in bringing it to life. "He brought us a lot of basic creative direction and added elements," Moloney said. "He made this experience much more tactile than we initially designed it. We've added gooey walls, crunching scarabs and falling pillars."
"There's other mazes (at the theme park) that are more bloodand-guts oriented," Sommers said. "Ours being 'The Mummy,' I thought we should put a lot of creative effort into it and it should be a little more thought out and clever. It's like the movie -- it scares you, but we tried to be a little more creative with our scares instead of just throwing blood at you."
Why do movies work so well as theme park attractions? "Obviously, when there's a brilliant movie like `The Mummy,' people come in with certain expectations and they have an idea of what it should be about," Moloney said. "So they're coming in preloaded with what their expectations are. We try to turn the corner on that and set up the expectations with the scenery and, maybe, put a different twist to it. Certainly, when you have a film that's been as successful as this film, you'd be foolish not to use the property."
Friday: More of my conversation with Moloney and Sommers.