It’s been nearly 10 years since Josh Trank‘s “Chronicle,” the sci-fi hit that launched his career, now-disgraced screenwriter Max Landis‘ career and boosted the viability of actors like Dane DeHaan and Micheal B. Jordan. “Chronicle” sequel ideas were thrown around at the time and discussed over the years, but no film materialized. The success of the film quickly shot Trank onto the A-list, and its success convinced the studio to allow him to reboot “Fantastic Four” and landed him a “Star Wars” film; the latter of which he would eventually exit following allegations of troublesome behavior on the set of the aforementioned Marvel movie. But belatedly, work on a completely different “Chronicle” sequel is in the works.
The “Chronicle 2” update comes from “Jungle Cruise” producer John Davis while speaking with Forbes, where he announced that the project is being worked on and takes place ten years after the events of the 2012 pic. They’ll also be moving forward with a new group of characters; as Davis says, female college students will make up the next generation endowed with superpowers.
“We’re working on ‘Chronicle 2’ right now, and I think it’s going to be great. We’re working on it at Fox (20th Century Studios). It’s going to give us a chance to tell the story in a different way. We’re going to tell it from the female point of view. It will have been ten years since the event happened in Seattle, and a lot of it’s going to deal with fake news and real news and cover-ups. More interestingly, it’s the next generation getting these powers that are corruptive. These are young women just finishing college, they are empowered, and this is their journey. I mean, what a new and interesting story you can tell there,” Davis told Forbes about the plot details and development on the “Chronicle” sequel.
The film was apparently a huge hit for the studio. “‘Chronicle’ was literally the best return on investment, any of my movies ever made,” he explained. “‘Chronicle’ we did for $12 million, and it grossed $126.64 million worldwide. Then it had a huge afterlife in syndication. It’s one of the most financially successful movies in my stable.
READ MORE Max Landis Talks ‘Chronicle 2’: Says Josh Trank Unlikely To Direct, Matt Will Return
However, the producer stops short of naming screenwriters, a director, cast members, or when they plan to get cameras rolling. It’ll be interesting to see a new filmmaker tackle the material and bring their own spin, but we’ll have to wait to see who they end up hiring. Presumably, both Trank and Landis wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near this thing, given Landis rep and Trank’s very public comments of trying to disrupt a sequel from being made.
Davis is producing Dan Trachtenberg‘s “Predator 5” at 20th Century Studios. That film also reportedly features a female protagonist, focusing on a group of Native American characters that encounter the deadly alien hunter, and it’s been compared to the Oscar-winning film “The Revenant.”