The Mummy starts with a striking visual — and a big historical inaccuracy

The Mummy opens with a sweeping shot of pyramids looming over the ancient city of Thebes — a grand cinematic moment that grabs attention, but also introduces a major historical error.

The Mummy is a film in the action-adventure genre that was released on May 7, 1999. This Stephen Sommers-directed title was a remake of the namesake 1932 film. Here is the official synopsis:

Dashing legionnaire Rick O’Connell stumbles upon the hidden ruins of Hamunaptra while in the midst of a battle to claim the area in 1920s Egypt. It has been over three thousand years since former High Priest Imhotep suffered a fate worse than death as a punishment for a forbidden love—along with a curse that guarantees eternal doom upon the world if he is ever awoken.

The opening scene of the film is apparently historically inaccurate.

The Mummy has a historical inaccuracy in its first scene

The Mummy came out in 1999, and several years later, a YouTuber named Rachel Maksy watched the film with Dr. Colleen Darnell, who is an Egyptologist. The two examined the film to check its historical accuracy. Soon, Dr. Darnell stated that the first scene of the film showcases the pyramids in Thebes, which is an ancient city in Egypt. She said that it’s inaccurate, as Thebes does not have any pyramids. The city is 500 miles away from the actual pyramids.

The pyramids shown in the film are based on the Giza pyramids. But it appears that the makers were aiming for recognizable visuals rather than historical accuracy. Dr. Darnell further said that the film borders on being fantastical.

More about The Mummy

Stephen Sommers wrote the screenplay of The Mummy, while the story was by him, Kevin Jarre, and Lloyd Fonvielle. James Jacks and Sean Daniel are the producers. The cast members of the film include:

Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell
Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep
Erick Avari as Dr. Terence Bey
Rachel Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan
Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay
John Hannah as Jonathan Carnahan
Kevin J. O'Connor as Beni Gabor
Jonathan Hyde as Dr. Allen Chamberlain

The film was released on May 7, 1999, and grossed $418.1 million at the box office. Its success started a franchise, and it was followed by The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which came out in 2001 and 2008, respectively. An animated series, as well as a spin-off called The Scorpion King, was also made. In 2017, Tom Cruise starred in a reboot film called The Mummy, which was made to kickstart a revamped version of the Universal Monsters franchise.

In February 2023, Brendan Fraser revealed that he nearly died during a hanging scene. He said:

“I was standing on my toes like this, with the rope [around my neck], and you only got so far to go and Stephen [Sommers] ran over, and he said, ‘Hey, it doesn’t really look like you’re, you know, choking — can you sell it?’ And I was like, ‘All right, fine.’ So I thought, ‘One more take, man.'”

He added,

“I was stuck on my toes — I had nowhere to go but down and so he was pulling up, and I was going down, and the next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, there was gravel in my teeth, and everyone was really quiet."