When Lionsgate announced in April, a good two months before “Now You See Me 2” was set to open, that they were already planning a third, it seemed…ambitious. And when “Now You See Me 2” opened and flopped domestically, those plans looked a little foolish, but now that the numbers have been tallied, the studio has some silver linings to take away. Firstly, the sequel did even better than its predecessor overseas, hauling in $269 million, with $94.5 million of that coming from China, enough that there’s already talk of a spinoff particularly for that market. But it seems Lionsgate are not giving up hope that their magic franchise can conjure more money at the box office.
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Deadline reports that Neil Widener and Gavin James (the pair penned “San Andreas 2“) have been hired to write “Now You See Me 3,” which has Jon M. Chu slated to return to direct, with the ensemble cast expected to come back as well. Clearly, Lionsgate are going after that international money, because I can’t imagine anyone stateside particularly cares about this one way or the other. But then again, if the fifth entry of the “Fast & Furious” could revive that series and turn it into a global behemoth, I guess anything is possible.
Still, it’s a risk nonetheless, and particularly as audiences are faced with more and more franchises to follow, one can’t help but feel the moment for “Now You See Me” has passed. But perhaps this property still has some magic up its sleeve.