OK, so Todd Phillips’ new comedy The Hangover – the trailer for which you can see here – has been getting good word-of-mouth from early screenings. But our gast was well and truly flabbered this morning when we heard that WB has only gone and blimmin’ commissioned a sequel to a movie that won’t come out for a good two months.
The studio has asked Phillips and his writing partner, Scot Armstrong, to work on the screenplay for the sequel, which will also see Phillips back to direct and produce, and the first movie’s stars, Ed Helms, Joaquin Phoenix look-a-like Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper return.
In The Hangover, the trio play best friends who go to Vegas for their best friend’s stag party/wedding… only to drunkenly lose the groom (Justin Bartha) hours before the ceremony.
No word on whether Bartha will return, or indeed the premise (‘how can the same guys lose the same groom… twice?’). We’re sure it’ll be booze-related, though.
Of course, all of this giddiness could go south very quickly if The Hangover doesn’t do as well as is (now) expected. But WB is confident that that isn’t going to happen have echoed the actions of Paramount, who last week greenlit the **Star Trek **sequel before the new movie has been released.
That, though, was a big movie, expected to gross tons of cash, so it’s virtually a no-brainer. The Hangover 2, on the other hand, would seem to be a big gamble. Maybe Phillips is keen to get a sequel together quickly, after his experiences with the oft-mooted, never-made Old School 2.
Filming on The Hangover 2 is expected to begin later this year.