Last year we learned that Tom Cruise had an idea for an Edge of Tomorrow sequel that he pitched to director Doug Liman and writer Christopher McQuarrie. That idea was later locked and loaded and pitched to Warner Brothers, and now the studio is taking it to the next step and putting it in development.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros. has hired Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse to write the script. They are the screenwriters behind the Jesse Owens biopic Race. The report it said that McQuarrie would be directing the film, but the writer later took to Twitter to say that news is wrong and that Liman would be back to direct the film.
Edge of Tomorrow was a great film that received critical acclaim but barely grossed $100M domestically at the box office (on a reported budget of $175M). Cruise is obviously set to reprise his role, and Emily Blunt is expected to come back and kick some more ass.
The movie ended in a way that didn’t really need a sequel. But Cruise only has this and the Mission:Impossible franchise to bank on. For most of the world who don’t think think a sequel should be made, McQuarrie previously had this to say:
“Right away, there were people on social media saying, ‘Don’t do it, it should never have a sequel, etc., etc.’ And I’m just laughing because I’m like, ‘You guys don’t even know what we are talking about! You have no idea!’ Look, that was one of the best creative teams I’ve ever worked with as far as a team of rivals: Emily is one facet of that; Doug Liman is a completely different and opposing force; Tom Cruise is another. And there I am in the middle, just playing to these three really strong, really smart people.”
This is Warner Brothers after all, a studio that is still is denial about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This is the studio that thought “Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain” was a good idea. It is a shame that Edge of Tomorrow did not fare so well because some of us would like to see unique, original movies like Edge of Tomorrow, instead of seeing a second verse (same as the first) of Edge of Tomorrow.