UPDATE: Almost a month later, and the trades are finally tackling this story. It’s been confirmed that Ritchie has indeed signed a deal to direct “Road House 2.”
EARLIER: There was never any doubt in my mind that a sequel to Amazon’s “Road House” would happen. It’s now being reported that Guy Ritchie (him again) will be directing “Road House 2.” Jake Gyllenhaal will be back for this one. Will Beall is writing the script.
So, how many projects is that for Ritchie? He’s directed five films in the last four years. He has three films potentially set for release this year (“Fountain of Youth,” “Wife & Dog,” and “In the Grey)”, and that’s not to mention the Paramount+ series “Mobland,” which just started streaming.
“Road House” was a major hit for Amazon, attracting nearly 100 million worldwide viewers and becoming Amazon MGM Studios’ most-watched produced film debut globally. Given his disdain for the film’s lack of a theatrical release, director Doug Liman has been replaced by Ritchie.
There’s been a lot of reporting on the behind-the-scenes drama with “Road House”; it all culminated with Liman, vehemently unhappy over Amazon’s release strategy, going scorched earth on the streamer and publishing an op-ed about how they betrayed him by not giving the film a theatrical release.
Regardless, it turns out that “Road House” fit perfectly on streaming, where it amassed a larger audience than it ever could theatrically. It was low-IQ filmmaking, and the best way to watch such a film was on a platform. It wasn’t worth the $20 one would have to pay for a movie ticket. It was a big, dumb, fun movie. Nothing more, nothing less.
I had previously written: … “If you just give in to the fact that “Road House” is a hyper masculine fantasy, driven by a charismatically tongue-in-cheek performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, then you could do a lot worse than spending tw hours watching this one on your couch. Gyllenhaal’s co-star, Connor McGregor, got the memo as well — his villainous turn as Knox is ridiculously over-the-top, as if he was doing lines of coke and chugging down Red Bulls before every take.”
Liman is too talented to involve himself in this type of project anyway; his most notable credits include “Edge of Tomorrow,” “American Made,” “Go,” “Swingers,” and “The Bourne Identity.” He’s currently in development on “Deeper,” starring Tom Cruise.