Yahoo Movies Edge of Tomorrow follow-up is "a sequel that’s a prequel,” says director
‘Edge of Tomorrow’ director Doug Liman has spoken about what the next film will entail and how it’ll continue from the time travelling first.
Speaking to Collider, Liman, who directed Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in the first movie and is helming the follow-up, teased at what the second one would be about. He also made clear that he doesn’t do sequels but ‘Edge of Tomorrow 2′ is the exception.
“That is the only sequel that I’m considering doing, and it’s because first of all the story is so amazing - much better than the original film, and I loved and loved the original film - and second of all, it’s a sequel that’s a prequel.”
A sequel that’s a prequel? Surely any prequel to a film is, by definition, a sequel. But I digress. Liman has really raised the bar by declaring it to be vastly superior to the inventive first.
‘Edge of Tomorrow’ is regarded by some as a bit of an underrated sci-fi-thriller but there’s a solid fan base in place who are anticipating the next. Maybe what Liman’s implying is that we’re about to get a sequel set after the first film with a storyline that time travels back in time. Or it could simply refer to the fact that *spoilers* Tom Cruise’s character somehow managed to reset the time loop and go back to a point before he became embroiled with the front line battle and picks up form there.
“I’ve had some radical ideas about how to make a sequel that would interest me, in the same way that I had ideas of how you make an independent film and then ‘Swingers’ came along and it was like, ‘Aha, that’s the perfect movie for me to test these ideas out on.’ I had these intellectual ideas on how you should make a sequel that are unlike how anybody else makes a sequel, and this script and this idea fit perfectly into that idea.”
Admittedly Liman’s enthusiasm is contagious. Often sequels don’t tend to live up to the promise or quality of the original but here there’s every chance we may in fact see something bigger and better in terms of a concept.
In fact, Liman reckons it’ll be hugely influential on the world of filmmaking, which is a bold statement.
“So it’s gonna revolutionise how people make sequels. And again that’s why I try to do things like ‘Invisible’ that are just, the revolution’s sort of built into the idea. It’s more heresy in the film world for me to pitch things that are sort of unheard of.”
‘Edge of Tomorrow’ took $371 million in worldwide ticket sales which, considering its $178 million budget, wasn’t much profit at all - maybe as little as $10-15 million, depending on how much it invested into its marketing campaign.
Hopefully Cruise and Blunt can return for what has every chance of being a success, providing it’s made and marketed right.
Picture credit: Warner Bros.
