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.
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.