A new bit of information via Variety states the studio is already developing a sequel to the Tom Hardy led Splinter Cell movie.
Catchplay, the films’ Taiwanese co-financier, told Variety that U.S. producer New Regency is looking at turning the two into movie franchises.
“They are both adaptations of successful Ubisoft games and would make ideal sequels,” said Daphne Yang, CEO of Catchplay, speaking Tuesday as Catchplay launched a pan-Asian streaming video service.
I can understand why New Regency, Fox and Ubisoft might believe they have a hit on their hands concerning the development of a sequel to Assassin’s Creed, previously reported by The Tracking Board.
As they likely have a cut of the film and more to work off of concerning gauging potential franchise success.
The problem with this is, Splinter Cell hasn’t even started shooting and it seems extremely premature to start talking about a sequel let alone developing one. It’s problematic to start talking sequels when we don’t even know for certain the first film will even get made.
Unlike Creed, we really have no idea what to expect with Cell considering it’s once attached director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) is now directing Channing Tatum in Gambit instead. Doug will likely be too busy with getting Gambit ready for release than being able to actually get Splinter Cell ready for a potential 2017 release date, they’ll have to wait for him or find another director.
Hardy in the meantime is attached for a big role in Christopher Nolan’s WWII action flick Dunkirk that should be shooting this summer.
Variety is still listing Liman as a director on the project, but we imagine he might have to drop the project if he’s unable to pickup production later in the year.
There’s a lot more unknown factors circling with Cell it even though we do love Tom Hardy to pieces, I think it’s slightly ridiculous to be taking about a sequel when cameras haven’t started rolling.
SOURCE: VARIETY