You’ll remember in 2013 — with “Independence Day 2” still on the backburner — that Hollywood saw fit to pit two shit-goes-crazy-in-the-White-House movies against each other just a few months apart. Both “White House Down” and “Olympus Has Fallen” were released with pretty much the same storylines: bad guys/terrorists take over the White House and a “Die Hard”-like John McClane has to save the day (with a little help from the POTUS).
Based on buzz alone, you probably thought “White House Down” won that battle hands down. Not so. The Antoine Fuqua-directed “Olympus Has Fallen” outgrossed the Roland Emmerich-helmed ‘WHD’ by $25 million domestically. While Emmerich’s film won out worldwide by some $40 million, Fuqua’s cost almost half the price of the $150-millon-costing “White House Down.” Thus the reason you understand why there’s a sequel to the seemingly lesser “Olympus Has Fallen” (which was certainly reviewed much more harshly).
Yep, there’s going to be a sequel called “London Has Fallen.” Focus Features (who merged with FilmDistrict last year, the company that distributed ‘Olympus’) announced today that they have acquired U.S. distribution rights for the sequel they plan to release nationwide on October 2, 2015.
The “Die Hard”-ish formula continues with Gerard Butler back in the lead. Here’s the new synopsis:
The sequel begins in London, where the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances. His funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the Western world. But what starts out as the most protected event on earth, turns into a deadly plot to kill the world’s most powerful leaders and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. Only three people have any hope of stopping it: the President of the United States, his formidable secret service head (Butler), and an English MI-6 agent who rightly trusts no one.
So intriguing. We assume this means Aaron Eckhart is back as the president, but maybe his term is up by then. Written by Creighton Rothenberger & Katrin Benedikt, no one is on board to direct yet, but hell, that never stopped a movie from making its release date before. These things practically direct themselves, right?