Released in February last year with a budget of $12 million, Chronicle was an undisputed B-movie. It was also one which shattered all of Fox’s box office predictions upon release, and so the decision to make a sequel was rather inevitable. However, industry murmurs recently suggested that the follow-up had hit some creative turbulence, but screenwriter Max Landis has poured cold water over those rumours and provided his own update on Chronicle 2.
Speaking to IGN at the Middle Eastern Comic Con, here’s what Landis had to offer:
“Chronicle 2 is in an interesting place right now. It’s moving along. There was this whole announcement that they wanted to just do the same thing again because my father said that. My father is not involved in Chronicle 2. He doesn’t know the process. It was not his place to say that. The truth is when you have a movie that was as successful as Chronicle was, it’s not as quick of a process. There are a lot more voices coming in and saying ‘This is what the sequel should be’ because there’s a bigger expectation and a bigger fear of failure.
“Josh (Trank) is directing Fantastic Four. I’m doing a hundred other movies. Chronicle 2 has become this question of ‘How do we all make a movie that we all respect?’. And that’s true to what Chronicle is. There’s no one at the studio who wants to make a bad movie. They all want to make a good movie just as much as I do. We’re not fighting.”
It’s understandable that the follow-up to the 2012 sleeper hit wouldn’t be a quick turnaround. The creative team behind Chronicle have their hands tied with various other projects – principally the director Josh Trank, who is working on Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot, which has been slated for 2015.
Chronicle was a breath of fresh air. A revisionist take on an overcrowded genre, it charted the escapades of three teenagers who, after discovering an alien-like artefact, discovered they had a whole bunch of abilities that grew in power as the film progressed. It also featured some unique camerawork and a breakout performance in Dane DeHann – the film’s troubled protagonist.
Mind you, it wasn’t exactly a fairytale. Darkness was very much a fibre of Chroncile’s DNA and, according to Landis, that’s a theme the team want to explore further in the sequel.
“The report came out that they didn’t like my script. They liked my script. It’s just a really dark script. The question is more of ‘How do we all compromise to get something we want?’ And that’s an incredibly slow process.”
Unfortunately, it seems that Chronicle 2 isn’t on the horizon just yet. Although a sequel to a found footage film isn’t exactly uncharted territory for Hollywood studios. I, for one hope that Max Landis’ script justifies a follow-up to Chronicle rather than diluting the qualities that made the first movie so entertaining – a pitfall that Paranormal Activity has been susceptible to.
What do you make of the statement? Do you think Chronicle 2 will feel forced and unnecessary? Or is Josh Trank’s film ripe for expanding? Let us know what you think below!
