The sheer number of projects that producer Jerry Bruckheimer has at any given time is baffling, and frankly, it’s surprising that the man gets anything done. Last week, he offered updates on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Beverly Hills Cop 4, and now we have news about two more of his projects: Bad Boys 3 and National Treasure 3.
The fact that a third Bad Boys film hasn’t happened yet is pretty surprising, considering that the first one grossed $141 million in 1995 and its follow up brought home $273 million in 2003. It’s not like director Michael Bay is against sequels, and he certainly likes to make money, so why haven’t we seen a third film now that we’re 11 years past the last installment?
According to Bruckheimer, all of the talent involved are interested in returning and it’s just been a matter of bad timing. In an interview with Collider, he said:
“It’s so funny because we’ll get Sony real excited to make the movie, and then Will [Smith] is off doing two movies. And then, Will will come back and be real excited about it, and Sony will say, ‘Well, maybe it’s not the time for this.’ And then, Ride Along came out and was a big hit, and now they’re all excited to make the movie, but Will is off doing something else. It’s just trying to get everybody together to make it. But, we’re working on the script. We have a lot of faith and hope that we’ll do it.”
It makes sense that scheduling has been an issue, with Bay off making four Transformers movies and Smith doing big-budget blockbusters in between smaller dramas and comedies. Back in December, we heard that Safe House writer David Guggenheim had been brought on to pen the script for a third film, so maybe if the stars align and Sony is interested at the right time, the film will finally happen.
As for the National Treasure series, the problem has not been about scheduling but rather about nailing the story. After all, it can’t be easy to write a big budget globe-trotting scavenger hunt, peppered with historical tie-ins and clues (even if they take a few liberties with the historical facts). According to Bruckheimer, things are moving forward and they’ve just cracked the first act of the script:
“Those are the hardest movies to make because they’re all based on clues. It’s so difficult to work them out. But, we got a first act in [on Friday], and Jon [Turteltaub] was very excited about it and I’m very excited about it. Hopefully, the first act will lead into the second act and the third act, and we’ll get this thing going.”
Apparently, Nicolas Cage is excited to return, so I imagine that once the script is complete they’ll get the ball rolling on National Treasure 3 pretty quickly.
Tell us, are you excited about seeing Bad Boys 3 and National Treasure 3? Sound off in the comments below!
