Even Spike Lee Can’t Resist Commercial Appeal
Trade News | September 8, 2008 | Comments (15)
Spike Lee’s Inside Man was a solid little thriller/heist movie that combined Lee’s political anthems with a good script and tight cast to create a dependable film. It also gave Lee his biggest opening weekend, bowing in March 2006 to $29 million on its way to $88 million domestically. (It made another $95 million internationally.) In Hollywood, that’s decent money, especially if your director is primarily known for being an auteur, so that’s reason enough to greenlight a sequel.
“But Dan,” I can already hear you asking, your frenzied brain cells rubbing together in the cool morning air, “how do you make a sequel to a bank heist movie? Does the cop wind up trailing the robber to a new location? And doesn’t this story in its own right, and your report on it, pretty much give away the plot of the first film?” To which I can only say: I don’t know, I guess so, and pretty much. Lee will return to direct, this time from a script by Terry George (Hotel Rwanda). The original was written by Russell Gewirtz, and Lee said of the sequel: “I want the script to be even better than Russell’s, and Russell wrote a really good script.” Lee also said the sequel will continue the relationship between the two central characters — played by Clive Owen and Denzel Washington — but in a new “high-tension” situation. So, chew on that one. If Inside Man 2: The Insidening works out, they can keep making sequels every couple years. I’m waiting for Clive Takes Manhattan, myself.
Comments
Posted by: Adam C at September 8, 2008 9:51 AM
At least it's not The Brazilian Job...