Jason Bateman Admits Nobody Actually Wanted A Sequel To 'Horrible Bosses'

Hollywood logic is pretty simple: if something is a success, find a way to keep printing money by making a sequel or spinoff. So, when "Horrible Bosses" earned over $205 million worldwide in 2011, Warner Bros. of course put the wheels in motion for a followup. "Horrible Bosses 2" arrived two years later and essentially did half the business of its predecessor, earning a collective shrug from audiences. Sometimes moviegoers are happy enough taking one trip down the block with a movie, no matter how successful, and Jason Bateman admits that was likely the case with "Horrible Bosses."

“A lot of people saw the first one, but there are plenty of films that made a lot of money where no one is interested in seeing another one,” the actor said on WTF With Marc Maron.

“The first one was funny. The first one put up some money. The second one was garbage as far as box office goes,” Bateman also said. “Who knows if it was on the merits or when they released it, but it did not do any money.”

And while Bateman says there was a simple motivation to sign on for a followup (hint: $$$) they did sort of put an effort into it. “Oh yeah. That’s a paycheck for everyone. Everyone’s gettin’ paid. It’s a freebie,” he said about making the sequel. Also adding: “We can’t just make it suck. Everyone’s gonna know it’s a layup, but let’s at least try to make it hold up to some cynical scrutiny.”

Sounds like the air was coming out of "Horrible Bosses 2" before it even started, which begs the question: why bother in the first place? Oh right, because the first one made money. But perhaps it would’ve been best to leave it at that. Listen to Bateman’s full conversation below. [Uproxx]