Eyebrows were raised when Netflix stepped into stump up a hefty $200 million plus budget to secure the services of Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds once Universal got antsy on the cost of writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber's action comedy thriller Red Notice. Yet the gamble paid off, as, despite mixed reviews, the film has become one of its most-viewed hits. Fewer eye-toppers will be cranking then, at word that the streaming service is looking to keep the Red ball rolling, putting plans in place for not one but two sequels, to be shot back-to-back and with hopes that the main trio will all return.
According to Deadline, Thurber is already back, and writing scripts (though if Reynolds does return, we can only imagine that a lot of his on-screen lines will be ad-libbed).
Plot details are, naturally, non-existent at this point (spare us your jokes about "same as the first movie, then"), but if the main threesome is lured back, it'll follow up the story of Johnson's lawman and Reynolds and Gadot's art thieves.
Naturally, we'll have to wait and see whether all three can carve out time in their hectic schedules, but Netflix is playing the long game with this, prepared to wait until 2023 for the cameras to crank at the earliest. And shooting two movies back to back should prove appealing. And we know the streamer will be ready to stump up some hefty cash, too...