Sequels! It’s taken a while, but wildly successful movies from different sides of the tracks are now getting ready to return in front of the cameras as sequels, and even better, they’ve got some helmers to go with it. So, let’s dive in.
First up, and perhaps most significant, Disney is finally pushing ahead with their follow up to Tim Burton‘s billion-dollar-earning “Alice In Wonderland.” It’s a bit shocking it took them nearly three years to get the ball rolling, but now it’s picking up speed, and James Bobin is the man in early talks for the gig. He’s already proved to Disney that he can do franchises, having successfully rebooted “The Muppets” and currently directing “Muppets…Again!” and we suppose he’ll meet the approval of Johnny Depp, who we can only imagine is the no brainer to return. Perhaps this also factored into his decision to bail on the gangster flick “Black Mass“ when asked to work for only a paltry $10 million? Between this and ‘Pirates 5,’ it looks like Depp could buy himself another island in a few years. Anyway, original ‘Alice’ writer Linda Woolverton is penning the script for the movie that’s going down the rabbit hole again.
Meanwhile, the long-gestating “Bad Santa 2” seemed to be on track last year when Steve Pink was signed up rewrite and direct the movie. But now folks behind the movie are giving those jobs to “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin. He’s writing the movie for sure, but directing will depend on what’s going on with that “Entourage” movie, as a script has been handed, but no word yet on when it might actually shoot. But the schedules of the dudes on that show can’t be too busy, can they? If all goes according to plan, cameras will roll on ‘Santa’ this fall, but they also said it would shoot last year, so we’ll see. [Variety/Deadline]