`MUMMY RETURNS' PUMPS UP BOX OFFICE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

``The Mummy Returns'' did more than scare up a box office record over the weekend - it heralded a slew of big summer movies that has Hollywood on track for another blockbuster year.

The film grossed a nonholiday record of $68.14 million, good enough for the

second-biggest opening ever behind another Universal Pictures release, ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' in 1997. The ``Mummy'' sequel comes at a time when box office revenue had been running 13 percent ahead of last year.

``Moviegoers were really starved for summer-type movies,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Los Angeles box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. ``This first weekend in May has been a hot bed of activity and a place where blockbusters are born.''

The picture pipeline is deep with summer releases that could do as well or better this summer, according to Dergarabedian. They include ``Pearl Harbor,'' ``A.I.'' ``Tomb Raider,'' and ``Jurassic Park 3.''

``It just shows how strong the market is when you can deliver the goods,'' said industry analyst Art Rockwell of Rockwell Capital Inc. in Burbank.

Another 2001 release, ``Hannibal'' from Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, has already set the fourth highest opening ever with $58 million in early February.

Domestic box office has been climbing steadily and setting new records since 1991, although it was a close call last year because there were few breakout movies in the summer, which accounts for 40 percent of annual revenue. Even then it was the second-best summer, with $2.75 billion in revenue.

Hollywood hopes to top the $3 billion summer box office record set in 1999 with a host of big-budget releases heavily favoring sequels, among them ``American Pie 2,'' ``Dr. Dolittle 2'' and ``Rush Hour II.'' Other films with box office potential include ``Planet of the Apes,'' the animated ``Shrek'' and the action film ``Swordfish.''

The summer box office, running from Memorial Day in late May through Labor Day weekend in early September, will be key to propelling the industry past last year's record of $7.7 billion, Rockwell said.

``If we can continue each week to offer strong commercial fare, you start building momentum and people get excited about what's playing at movie theaters,'' said Dan Marks, executive vice president of ACNielsen EDI, a Los Angeles-based box office firm. ``They'll come to the theater even if it's the first week in May.''

However unlikely, that weekend is now an important date on Hollywood's calendar because it's an ideal time to jump-start summer movie fever. Last year, that weekend saw the opening of DreamWorks' ``Gladiator,'' while the original ``The Mummy'' brought in $44 million on the same weekend in 1999. The sequel was expected to earn no more than $55 million in its first three days.

```The Mummy Returns''' signifies that audiences are ready to go back to the movies in big numbers,'' Dergarabedian said.

It helped that ``Mummy'' faced competition from only one other action film, ``Driven'' starring Sylvester Stallone, and ``Spy Kids'' and ``Bridget Jones's Diary,'' which were aimed, respectively, at kids and women.

One of the most anticipated summer releases debuts Memorial Day weekend: World War II epic ``Pearl Harbor'' from the Walt Disney Co.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

All-time opening weekend revenue (Friday-Sunday)

$72.1 million ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' (Universal) 1997

$68.14 million ``The Mummy Returns'' (Universal) 2001

$64.81 million ``Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace'' (Fox) 1999

$58 million ``Hannibal'' (MGM) 2001

$57.84 million ``Mission: Impossible 2'' (Paramount) 2000

< Coming Contenders?

``Pearl Harbor'' (Disney)

``Tomb Raider'' (Paramount)

``A.I.'' (Warner Bros.)

``Shrek'' (Dreamworks)

``Dr. Dolittle 2'' (Fox)

``A Knight's Tale'' (Columbia)

``Swordfish'' (Warner)

``Jurassic Park 3'' (Universal)

``Planet of the Apes'' (Fox)

``American Pie 2'' (Universal)

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) ``The Mummy Returns'' set a box office record for a non-holiday release, setting the tone for a blockbuster summer.

Box: MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Source: Daily News