You might’ve already forgotten about “Den Of Thieves,” the low-rent “Heat” ripoff that opened a few weeks ago starring Gerard Butler. At first glance, the poorly reviewed movie looked like the nail in the coffin for the actor, whose recent run of movies have included Things You Didn’t See such as “Geostorm” and “A Family Man.” However, it appears that STX Entertainment is still very much #TeamButler, despite “Den Of Thieves” opening in third place on its debut weekend.
“Den Of Thieves 2” is happening, with STX apparently impressed enough by the film’s $57 million worldwide haul to bank on another movie. All the main creatives are coming back with Christian Gudegast writing and directing, and the whole gang including Butler, Tucker Tooley, Mark Canton, Alan Siegel, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson returning. The story will following Butler’s Big Nick, who takes his off the books brand of justice to Europe, where every franchise sequel goes eventually, and will find him stopping a diamond heist. I’m sure the location will have nothing to do with whatever tax breaks the production companies will get from shooting in [insert country, probably Budapest].
So, why is this happening? Well, “Den Of Thieves” was easy on the bottom line, costing $30 million before marketing, with 70% of that recouped thanks to pre-sales and tax incentives. So, I’d imagine it’ll be the same plan here — modest cost, and pre-sell the hell out of it.
No word yet on when this go into production, but it’ll probably have to work around Butler’s schedule, which includes “Angel Has Fallen,” the third movie in his ‘Olympus’ trilogy. Gerard Butler, franchise machine? Looks that way. [Deadline]