Sequel to 'The Gray Man' in the Works at Netflix
by EG
The dust hasn't settled on the premier of the new thriller movie The Gray Man, but Netflix is already getting behind a sequel to the film. The new film will, like the first, star Ryan Gosling, which was likely key to the initial success of the first movie. It will also be directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the team behind Avengers: Endgame. Read on for details.
Via Deadline.
Even before Netflix releases opening-weekend audience numbers later today that will likely point to record audience engagement in 92 countries, the streamer has put in motion a sequel to The Gray Man, with Gosling returning to the title role and Joe & Anthony Russo again directing. They’ll produce with AGBO’s Mike Larocca and Roth Kirschenbaum Films’ Joe Roth and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum. Stephen McFeeley, who co-wrote the original from the Mark Greaney novel with his Avengers scripting partner Christopher Markus, is writing this one solo.
Following the release of The Gray Man this weekend where it debuted as the No. 1 movie on the streamer in 92 countries and got a 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, Netflix might have the 007-style spy franchise it was looking for and paid over $200 million to blow up Prague in Gosling’s mano a mano match against Chris Evans.
Netflix and AGBO are also developing a Gray Man spinoff, also based on the book series. They are keeping the specifics under wraps but they’ve got Deadpool and Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese aboard as the screenwriters.
Here, Joe and Anthony Russo describe the future plans for AGBO’s second Netflix franchise — the Extraction sequel with Chris Hemsworth is locked — and also pivoting from directing the biggest-grossing film of all time in Avengers: Endgame to making a movie just as ambitious, for an entirely different model.
DEADLINE: This quickly is evolving into a universe, after so many tried to turn The Gray Man into an event film before you guys made it happen. Describe what you’ll do going forward.
JOE RUSSO: The sequel will be inspired by the Mark Greaney novel. Translating from one medium to another often requires interpretation, but we have an incredible amount of source material from an amazing offer. We’ll draw on that for the sequel.
DEADLINE: What can you say about the spinoff?
JOE RUSSO: Wernick and Reese will write the spinoff and we’re going to do something a little more edgy and experimental with that.
DEADLINE: What does that mean?
JOE RUSSO: It means that one will be a hard R. Can’t say more at this point.
DEADLINE: You’ve done this big movie on Netflix. Compare the reaction to the one you got for the global theatrical release on Avengers: Endgame?
JOE RUSSO: Everybody loves the movie. The audience score is fantastic, the response has been overwhelming, No. 1 in 93 countries. Evans and Gosling are very happy with the film, Ryan has told me his mother said it’s her favorite movie he’s ever made. We’ll take that as certification that we need a sequel, that feedback from Ryan’s mother. Everyone’s happy, loved working together. We just got back from traveling the globe and the response was tremendous. We’re excited to expand the story.
Gte the rest of the interview at Deadline.