John Boyega first made waves when he led the Joe Cornish-directed mature science-fiction comedy film “Attack The Block,” an alien invasion comedy similar to Edgar Wright‘s zombie flick “Shaun of The Dead.” The comparison isn’t shocking since Wright was a producer on the film and a longtime friend of Cornish; the pair had co-written Marvel’s “Ant-Man” before exiting the project over creative differences.
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There had been some teases from Cornish that he was considering a sequel, and there is a report from Deadline that states “Attack The Block 2” is a go with Boyega set to return. Joe will both write and direct the sequel for Studiocanal, Film4, Complete Fiction Productions, and UpperRoom Productions. Wright and Cornish will produce via Complete Fiction.
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The original film distributed domestically by Sony Pictures in 2011 saw a group of young London hoodlums led by Boyega’s Mosses that are forced to protect fellow building residents fight off a group of dangerous animal-like aliens on their block. Other cast members included “Shaun of The Dead”s Nick Frost and future “Doctor Who” actress Jodie Whittaker; it’s unknown at the moment if those two will be returning.
It’s unclear when they hope to get cameras rolling on “Attack The Block 2” as Joe Cornish is currently busy with the Netflix series “Lockwood,” the show about an agency of young psychic investigators is said to begin shooting this summer in London.
“Attack The Block” become somewhat a cult hit with genre fans and placed the young actor on J.J. Abrams‘ radar when auditioning roles for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and when landing the Finn role, it officially launched his Hollywood career. Boyega has publicly spoken about his frustrations working on the “Star Wars” franchise which saw his role downgraded in sequels from co-lead; it also seemed like we were deprived of a Jedi version of Finn because of that pivot made by the studio. The racist backlash and calls to boycott the film came after the bizarre reaction to the teaser trailer that saw John Boyega in a Stormtrooper uniform leading to a small freak-out from the online trolls that would become the Fandom Menace. Hopefully, returning for “Attack The Block 2” will be less of a headache for the actor.