Trivia for
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Rachel Weisz announced that she will not be reprising her role of Evelyn. Later on, Maria Bello was announced to replace her.
  
  
• The tomb of the Dragon Emperor, with its terracotta warriors, is inspired by the real-life tomb of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, in Xi'an, China.
  
  
• Brendan Fraser and John Hannah are the only actors to appear in all three Mummy movies.
  
  
• Brendan Fraser, who plays Rick, was born in 1968. Maria Bello who plays Evelyn, was born in 1967. Luke Ford, who plays their son Alex, was born in 1981, making him 13 years younger than Fraser and 14 years younger than Bello.
  
  
• The small device that triggers a trap by dropping a bronze marble from a dragon's mouth to a frog's mouth is inspired by an ancient instrument that could predict the direction of a coming earthquake. It is considered the first seismograph.
  
  
• The crossbow traps in the tomb scene are based in reality. According to Chinese archaeologists, the excavation of the Terracotta Army is progressing so slowly partly because the site is filled with similar traps.
  
  
• After the emperor has been awakened, the heroes ride in a cart containing fireworks. The box has "Tse Kar Wai" written on it. This is an alternate name for Doris Tse, a co-producer on the film.
  
  
• Jonathan's bar is called "Imhotep's", named after the villain from The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001).
  
  
• This marks the Hollywood debut for Chinese martial arts sensation Wu Jing (Jacky Wu), who has a cameo as one of the assassins having a brief but furious battle with fellow Wu Shu expert Jet Li at the beginning of the film.
  
  
• The airplane used to fly to Shangri-La, based on the Bristol Beaufighter widely used by Britain and Australia in World War II, might reasonably be expected to be available in China. Built as a two-seat fighter-bomber, it was never converted into a passenger-carrying aircraft, but such a conversion might have been theoretically possible.
  
  
• The fly fishing scene where Rick has trouble casting, then gets a hook in his cheek, then shoots the fish that he and Evie later eat where she chews on a bullet is taken directly from Two If by Sea (1996) with Denis Leary and Sandra Bullock.
  
  
• The box of explosives read "Voeten Dynamite". This is a nod to P.J. Voeten, the 1st AD on this movie.
  
  

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