Lawrence.com

Los Angeles — The money returns. Movie-goers shelled out $70.1 million for "The Mummy Returns," a record for a non-holiday opening weekend.

According to studio estimates Sunday, the movie was just $2 million behind the biggest all-time debut, "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," which opened on the Memorial Day weekend in 1997.

"Mummy Returns" accounted for 70 percent of the weekend box office among the top 10 films.

Stars Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, writer-director Stephen Sommers and other key cast and crew members returned for the sequel, in which a resurrected Egyptian priest battles an ancient villain, the Scorpion King, played by professional wrestler The Rock.

Sommers, co-star Oded Fehr and others from the movie cruised theaters Friday to gauge audience reaction.

"We were finding 8-year-olds to 85-year-olds, and they all seemed to love it," Sommers said. "When you have an 85-year-old woman coming up afterward and hugging Oded Fehr and saying, 'It was wonderful,' you know you've done something right."

Critics, however, were not too kind. A fair number of reviewers called it a fun adventure, but many trashed the movie, branding it a dumb special-effects extravaganza.

Big summer movies include "Pearl Harbor," "Shrek," "Tomb Raider," "Atlantis," Steven Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," "Jurassic Park III" and "Planet of the Apes."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures are to be released today.

1. "The Mummy Returns," $70.1 million.

2. "Driven," $6.1 million.

3. "Bridget Jones's Diary," $6 million.

4. "Spy Kids," $4 million.

5. "Along Came a Spider," $3.8 million.

6. "Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles," $3.2 million.

7. "Blow," $2.4 million.

8 (tie). "The Forsaken," $1.5 million.

8 (tie). "Joe Dirt," $1.5 million.

10. "One Night at McCool's," $1.3 million.