This is about as exciting as it gets for anyone following Gudegast’s work after Den Of Thieves seeing as the man knows how to shoot the heck out of a gunfight and car chase. It’ll be a real test of his own acumen with cinematography for fight action and I’m curious to see what he and his team pull off.
Some of the best news this month is coming right out of the European Film Market where deals are being made and casting is underway for numerous projects, developing or otherwise – namely the long awaited Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera, the long-awiated sequel to the inaugural hit 2018 heist thriller which starred Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. The sequel was greeinlit a month after the film’s release with an official title etched in the following year.
At long last, director Christian Gudegast’s highly anticipated Den Of Thieves sequel has an official with Den Of Thieves: Pantera, currently making the sales rounds at Cannes for eOne’s Sierra/Affinity. The sequel was announced last February in the weeks that followed the first film’s January rollout from STXfilms, firstly developing in 2003 between a few studios.
Producer/Director pair Tucker Tooley and Christian Gudegast are still set to rev up a sequel for hit crime thriller Den Of Thieves as of February. That’s not going to be a hinderance at all going forward according to Anita Busch’s exclusive at Deadline with the announcement of spec script, Thug.
Tucker Tooley Entertainment has acquired and will produce the film with Gudegast to direct, as penned by Faster, The Salton Sea and Murder By Numbers scribe Tony Gayton. The film centers on an ex-journeyman boxer and aging San Pedro gangland enforcer fighting to clean his life up and reunite with his estranged children while forced to face down a past that won’t let him go.
Gudegast wrote and directed Gerard Butler’s Den Of Thieves which blew box office expectations after releasing in January to the tune of nearly $80 million dollars. The director is also best known for co-penning the Butler-led hit sequel, London Has Fallen for Babak Najafi, and has worked on such films as Speed Racer, The Rundown and A Man Apart.
TTE’s Jason Barhydt is executive producing Thug.
Antia Busch over at Deadline is putting the word out that the wheels are officially turning for Den Of Thieves 2 with Christian Gudegast back to direct from his own script. Gerard Butler, who steered the action-packed L.A. set crime tale will return to star along with O’Shea Jackson Jr. with a story following the aftermath of the first film that now sees Jackson Jr.’s role embroiled with the Panther mafia in lieu of an ambitious diamond heist.
The news is the result of the first film’s reported overperformance at the box office having so far earned up to $57 million dollars, making it a worthy reward to reap for a 15-year effort from producers Mark Canton and Tucker Tooley. Pre-sales and tax incentives were also a factor in funding for the January thriller, along with news of growing audience appeal per polling of male moviegoers.
Butler is producing the sequel along with Alan Siegel via their G-BASE banner next to producers Canton and Tooley, as well as G-Unit Film & Television, Inc.’s Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson who also starred in the first film. Diamond Film Productions is financing the sequel with STX handling worldwide distribution.
Also stirring for Butler is Ric Roman Waugh’s Angel Has Fallen with Morgan Freeman, Holt McCallany and Piper Perabo.
Pablo Schreiber and O’Shea Jackson Jr. also star for the film’s January 19, 2018 release. Watch the official trailer below, courtesy of the Complex Magazine’s exclusive on Wednesday.
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