It is 17 years sinceJames McAvoyandAngelina Jolieteamed up for the hit action thrillerWantedand even though it looks like it will never get a sequel – at least not with its original cast – fans have sent the movie blasting into theNetflixTop 10 just under two weeks after it was added to the platform.
Wantedis based on the comic book miniseries by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones, which focuses on office clerk Wesley Allan Gibson, who discovers that his father has been part of a secret society of assassins for years. McAvoy and Jolie were joined by several other Hollywood heavyweights, including Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, and Chris Pratt. The movie was a huge hit, taking over $342 million against a budget of just $75 million, which gave many fans hope that a sequel would soon follow.
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Despite those plans beginning to take shape, a follow-up never materialized, and in an interview in 2024, McAvoy suggested that even in this age of legacy sequels, it would be age that was a deciding factor, ashe feels that kind of role is “a young person’s role now.”At the time he said:
“There were a couple of scripts that came my way for sequels, but they weren’t strong enough, so that’s why they never happened. If there was a script there that was absolutely banging, then, yeah, I’d be disappointed. But we made something that I’m really proud of. Timur [Bekmambetov] was really proud of it. The studio was really proud of it. Everybody was really excited by it, and it’s stood the test of time a little bit. It’s always on streamers, and people are always watching it.”
‘Wanted 2’ Could Still Happen – as No One Ever Says Never in Hollywood
If you could nip over to Doc Brown’s house and ask to take the Delorean for a spin, you could go back just a decade and ask Bill Murray if he would ever play Peter Venkman again, or see ifMichael Keaton expected to play either Batman or Beetlejuice on screen again. While remakes and reboots have always been sewn into the fabric of Hollywood, legacy sequels are a much more recent thing.
In the mid-90s, no one approached Christopher Lee about reprising his role as Dracula over 20 years after his last appearance in 1972’sThe Satanic Rites of Dracula, just like no one wanted Michael Caine to come back for anItalian Jobsequel in the 80s, or Clint Eastwood to become Harry Callaghan again in the noughties (mainly because Eastwood felt, at 58, to play the role any longer would make him a parody of himself).
Now, even 30 years is not enough to hold back stars from returning for long-delayed sequels. Franchises such asHocus Pocus, Ghostbusters, Willow, Scream, and many more have returned to screens – some for better, others definitely for worse. With that in mind, McAvoy’s comments may be a little redundant when addressing age as a factor for him not being able to lead an action movie. Certainly,Wantedwriter David Haas would love to see the sequel happen, and recently urged McAvoy to “come on back” and “do Wesley again.” Whether it happens or not, there is still a lot of love for the original movie, and Netflix audiences are the latest to make it a hit all over again.
Source: FlixPatrol
