Universal put the wheels in motion for this one last spring, so it wasn’t a matter of if, but when. And indeed, with “Ride Along” crossing $120 million this past weekend—while Kevin Hart‘s other comedy “About Last Night” opened strongly with over $27 million dollars in the bank—it’s a not shock that Universal want to stay in business with the comic actor. So why not make a sequel to the hit “Ride Along”?
And that’s exactly what they’re going to do, with both Hart and Ice Cube returning for “Ride Along 2,” along with director Tim Story. Even the same screenwriters are back, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, keeping the successful formula of talent in place for a follow-up that Deadline says “is expected to have more action” and “will be more multi-cultural to expand the demos.” So, bigger and broader? Sounds about right, and as much as we hope the sequel goes into R-rated territory that the original movie so clearly wanted to go in, we suspect that won’t be the case. Again, don’t mess with what works.
So, when we can you see it? Well, Universal isn’t waiting one moment, with production slated to start in July or July once Hart wraps on “Get Hard” with Will Ferrell for Warner Bros. Basically, with two movies out this year and one more coming with “Think Like A Man Too,” Hart isn’t stopping for one second, and it looks like we could have a double dose of movies from the funnyman in 2015. Not that we’re complaining.