One of Angelina Jolie’s biggest action franchises may still return from development hell, if her director can meet a certain condition. Situated between her success with the Tomb Raider, Kung Fu Panda and Maleficent franchises, Jolie was one of the leads of Timur Bekmambetov’s Wanted. Loosely adapted from Mark Millar’s graphic novel of the same name, the story primarily centered on the misanthropic Wesley Gibson as he discovers himself to be the son of a former assassin in a secret society known as The Fraternity, and becomes embroiled in the hunt to find his killer. Attempts to develop a sequel have hit various roadblocks in the 18 years since the original came out, and now, Bekmambetov has a somewhat hopeful update for Wanted 2. In an interview with ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan for his new film Mercy, the filmmaker actually said the Chris Pratt-led film’s success “will help me make more interesting movies,” pointing to both Jolie’s film and his career-launching Night Watch franchise:
Timur Bekmambetov: I have an idea of what it is, but it depends a lot [on] the success of Mercy, honestly. All these movies could be continued, but Mercy is crucial. It’s at the mercy of Mercy.
The director went on to confirm he has an “unbelievable” plan for what Wanted 2’s story will be, and can’t currently share “exactly what it is” in the hopes of getting the sequel made. He did, however, also tease that Pratt may get a bigger role in the sequel after his supporting turn in the 2008 action movie hit, in which “James McAvoy smashed the keyboard in his face,” while further expressing his love for Angelina Jolie. Praising the Oscar winner as being “an unbelievable human being,” Bekmambetov said he “really want[s] to see her onscreen in action [again].” Also starring James McAvoy as Wesley and Morgan Freeman as Fraternity leader Mr. Sloan, Wanted was largely a hit upon its initial release. Garnering generally positive reviews from critics to net a 71% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was also a major financial success for Universal Pictures, grossing over $342 million worldwide against its $75 million production budget, and earning upwards of an additional $72 million on home video.

Fox before the final scene in Wanted

Despite this success, though, Wanted 2 has found itself struggling to get off the ground for a variety of reasons. Bekmambetov, McAvoy and producer Jim Lemley have all frequently expressed their desires to come back, while also pointing to the sequel’s numerous script rewrites and much larger budget as creating uncertainty in Universal’s dedication. Prior to the director’s above comments, the last major update came from original co-writer Derek Haas as he shared with ScreenRant that his and Michael Brandt’s last draft was “pretty good” and called on McAvoy to come back.

Considering his latest film doesn’t really share any of the same producers or studio, it’s interesting that Bekmambetov views Mercy’s potential financial performance as being the biggest condition for Wanted 2 to finally take off. With its broad, blockbuster appeal, it’s understandable that Universal and other producers would look to the Pratt-led movie as a sign of whether Bekmambetov can still make projects that draw audiences to the theater, and subsequently back an expensive project like his action sequel. If Mercy’s performance is truly going to determine whether Wanted 2 moves ahead, though, the McAvoy and Jolie sequel might find itself facing further hurdles. Critics have almost universally dismissed Pratt’s sci-fi thriller, netting it a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, while its early box office projections have it on a very quiet track, expected to debut to $12.6 million against a $60 million production budget. While audience worth of mouth could propel it to further success in the coming weeks, as it sits at an 80% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, Bekmambetov does seem to have a lot working against him and Wanted 2 now.

Release Date

June 19, 2008

Runtime

110 minutes

Director

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers

Chris Morgan, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, Mark Millar, J.G. Jones

Producers

Iain Smith, Jason Netter, Jim Lemley, Marc Platt