For the first 25 years of his career, there were very much two sides to Robert Rodriguez. One was the director behind R-rated and blood-splattered genre films like Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Sin City and Machete, juxtaposed with the effects-driven family fare of the Spy Kids trilogy and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.
Sci-fi seems to be his new thing, though, after he followed up instant cult favorite Alita: Battle Angel with a guest directing spot on The Mandalorian, which in turn led to him executive producing The Book of Boba Fett, while he’s also gearing up to shoot high concept futuristic thriller Hypnotic with Ben Affleck and Alice Braga, as well as signing a first-look television development deal with HBO Max.
One of his most popular films turned out to be original superhero story We Can Be Heroes, which in typical Rodriguez fashion he directed, wrote, co-produced, edited, scored and acted as cinematographer. It was one of Netflix’s biggest hits of the holiday season, becoming the platform’s most-watched original family film ever after racking up 53 million streams in four weeks.
A sequel was announced shortly afterwards, and in a new interview Rodriguez confirmed that his commitments to both Disney and WarnerMedia aren’t slowing him down in the slightest when asked if he was planning to shoot it next year.
“Oh, absolutely. I love making those films. They’re so creative. The adults have a great time too. Most of the adults in the cast had kids too that couldn’t watch any of their movies. So it’s a great building of a world. My own children work on the films. So it’s like a family affair. It’s family time. You’re making products for other families, and you’re checking all the boxes, living the best life.”
We Can Be Heroes wasn’t a classic by any means, but it was perfectly serviceable and inoffensive entertainment that came burdened with plenty of franchise potential, so Netflix were always going to be champing at the bit for more installments once the viewing figures came in.