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Stephen Sommers Biography
Stephen Sommers is an American film director and screenwriter. He is best known for appearing on big-budget movies, such as The Mummy (1999), its sequel, The Mummy Returns (2001), Van Helsing (2004), and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). Stephen also directed Disney’s live action version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1994).
Stephen Sommers Age
Stephen was born March 20, 1962 in Indianapolis. He is 57 years old as of 2019.
Stephen Sommers Family | Stephen Sommers Parents
Stephen was born in Indianapolis, and grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He has not revealed any information regarding his parents and siblings. He attended St. Cloud Apollo High School. He graduated from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and the University of Seville in Spain in 1980. After his graduation, he spent four years performing as an actor in theater groups and managing rock bands throughout Europe. Eventually went back to the United States and moved to Los Angeles. There he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts for three years, earning a master’s degree and writing and directing the award-winning short film Perfect Alibi.
Stephen Sommers Wife
Stephen is married to Jana Sommers. The couple two daughters Samantha Sommers (born 1996) and Ashley Sommers (born 1999). Currently he lives in Pacific Palisades, California with his family.
Stephen Sommers The Mummy
He wrote and directed Universal Studios’ big-budget remake of The Mummy in 1999 . The film was a smash hit, and Stephen received two Saturn Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writer in 2000 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. A successful sequel, The Mummy Returns, followed two years later, and he also co-wrote and produced 2002’s The Scorpion King, a prequel/spin-off of The Mummy Returns.
Stephen Sommers Director
Stephen was helped by Perfect Alibi to acquire independent funding to write and direct his first feature film, the teen racing film Catch Me If You Can. It was filmed for $800,000 on location in his hometown of St. Cloud. The film was sold at the Cannes Film Festival for $7 million and later debuted on video in the United States.
Almost four years later, Stephen was broke and in danger of having his house repossessed. During that time he wrote and directed an adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huck Finn for Walt Disney Pictures, as well as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Later he wrote the screenplays for Gunmen and Tom and Huck. He also executive produced for Disney along with a TV version of Oliver Twist in 1997 starring Richard Dreyfuss and Elijah Wood. Stephen worked as a staff writer at Hollywood Pictures. While there, Stephen worked on a script called Tentacle, which he later directed under the title Deep Rising in 1998.
He wrote and directed Universal Studios’ big-budget remake of The Mummy in 1999 . The film was a smash hit, and Stephen received two Saturn Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writer in 2000 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. A successful sequel, The Mummy Returns, followed two years later, and he also co-wrote and produced 2002’s The Scorpion King, a prequel/spin-off of The Mummy Returns.
Stephen founded his own company along with editor/producing partner Bob Ducsay, The Sommers Company in 2004 and went back to theater screens with Van Helsing, a film pitting legendary vampire hunter Gabriel Van Helsing against the triumvirate of Universal movie monsters: Count Dracula, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s monster. Before Van Helsing even premiered, Sommers and Ducsay began developing a spin-off TV series for NBC called Transylvania. Though featuring none of the characters from the film, the series (which was to have made use of the film’s Prague set) was about a young cowboy from Texas who becomes a sheriff in Transylvania, has many strange adventures, and encounters many strange creatures. Sommers and Ducsay were to have been executive producers, and Stephen wrote scripts for the pilot and first several episodes, but NBC decided not to go through with the show.
Since Van Helsing, Stephen has been attached to a number of projects. Originally he was set to direct Night at the Museum, but dropped out due to creative differences. He was also attached to a remake of When Worlds Collide (to be executive produced by Steven Spielberg). A new big-screen adaptation of Flash Gordon, a swashbuckling adventure film called Airborn based on the novel Airborn, a romantic/adventure story called Big Love, and a remake of the French film Les Victimes. Stephen opted out of directing the third Mummy film, titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, instead becoming one of its producers.
Stephen directed Paramount Pictures’ summer 2009 live-action adaptation of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and also served as a producer. Around that time, he was developing a Tarzan adaptation for Warner Bros. but left the project. His most recent film, Odd Thomas, had been delayed from release indefinitely due to lawsuits against the production company, but it is now available to watch on Netflix’s streaming service.
Stephen Sommers Movies
2013 – Odd Thomas
2009 – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
2004 – Van Helsing
2002 – The Scorpion King
2001 – The Mummy Returns
1999 – The Mummy
1998 – Deep Rising
1995 – Tom and Huck
1994 – The Jungle Book
1994 – Gunmen
1993 – The Adventures of Huck Finn
1989 – Catch Me If You Can
1988 – Perfect Alibi
Stephen Sommers Movies As Producer
2018 – Scorpion King: Book of Souls
2015 – The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power
2013 – G.I. Joe: Retaliation
2012 – The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption
2008 – The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
2008 – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
2004 -Van Helsing: The London Assignment
2001–2003 – The Mummy
1997 – Oliver Twist
Stephen Sommers Awards
2010 Golden Raspberry Award
2000 Saturn Award
1999 Eyegore Award
Stephen Sommers Net Worth
Stephen is a successful screenwriter and director who has an estimated net worth of $20 million dollars.He sold his foremost feature film for $ 7 million dollars after graduating.