Perhaps the second biggest surprise of last weekend’s box office (besides another terrific showing by “Black Panther”), was the strong debut of the comedy “Game Night.” Rocking a B+ Cinemascore, a haul of $16.6 million, and strong reviews, the movie was a nice little hit for New Line. Moreover, word of mouth seems to be pretty strong so the inevitable question of a sequel is already cropping up. But unlike some folks who will demur and say, “Only if have the right story to tell,” screenwriter Mark Perez is more than game (pun intended!).
“It would be great to have sequels. Super titles like ‘Game Night’ or specific titles like that feel genetically built to have sequels,” he told THR. “That would mean the movie did well, and that’s all I really care about at this stage.”
You know what? Give the guy some points for honesty. Sometimes in Hollywood you gotta be confident and own your success, and Perez is the first to fess that of course he’s thinking about continuing the brand.
“It’s like players who are playing in the playoffs and aren’t thinking about the Super Bowl, but they are really thinking about the Super Bowl. Of course I’d love for there to be many sequels, and getting these characters to do other crazy things would be unbelievable,” he explained. “But for right now I think it’s a really cool, interesting movie, and there are so many fewer comedies these days, and I always cheer for comedy, and I love it so much that I hope people see it.”
Well, it looks like people are seeing it and with a quiet weekend at the multiplex ahead (aside from Jennifer Lawerence‘s dour spy movie “Red Sparrow“) it’ll likely continue finding more viewers to entertain.