As I predicted back in early November, demand for Journey 2
has proven sufficient to surpass the gross of the first film and give audiences
the a third Journey; although whether it will be the trip to the moon so
forcefully promised at the end of Journey 2 remains to be seen!
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Behind the Scenes clip with Dwayne Johnson, Michael Cain, Josh Hutcherson & Vanessa Hudgens...
Director Brad Peyton and the writers of the second film, Brian
and Mark Gunn have been sewn up for the next film. Journey 2 has had 3 of the
past 4 weeks as the number one film at the international box office, earning
$184.5m there so far; add in its current North American take of $85.6m and the
film has over $270m so far, with a reasonable way still to go. That’s already
surpassed the $242m of the first film.
Josh Hutcherson reprised his role from Journey to The Centre
of The Earth and with Brendan Fraser dropping out the producers cannily added
Michael Cain, Vanessa Hudgens and most significantly Dwayne Johnson to the
cast. That combination, added to a genuine desire, from children, to see the
adventures continue has led to the success of Journey 2.
 |
| I'm sure many will be hoping to see more pec popping! |
The desire is to get the following film out much quicker
than the 4 years between films 1 & 2; especially with lead actor, Josh Hutcherson,
already significantly aged from the first film. However, in a rather unusual
move for a 21st century Hollywood film, the primary cast are not “tied
up” with multi picture deals.
There was a lot of talk that the ending of Journey 2 (mild
spoiler) was more of a tongue-in-cheek stunt than a serious foreshadowing of
what will happen next, but director Peyton’s comments to The Hollywood Reporter
seem to suggest otherwise...
"I grew up a fan of Verne, so I know a lot about the
mythologies. Mysterious Island was one of eight or nine really seminal works. I
know we've just scratched the surface of what we can do. This one's going to be
a lot bigger. We're going to go to a completely different world. It's just
going to be a bigger experience and we're going to grow the mythology. Journey
2 was about rebooting a franchise. Now it's about making the seminal work in
the franchise."
So maybe the cast really will be going to the moon after
all? At least we don’t have to expect them to get fired there in a giant
cannon. Journey 2 has established that other ‘old’ novels contain information
about real adventures, so perhaps Jules Verne’s ‘From The Earth to The Moon’
will be mixed with H. G. Well’s ‘The First Men In The Moon’ and Cavorite will be
the means of transportation. A few things seem certain, an even bigger Journey
is on the way and the cast of Journey 2 are definitely wanted for the ride; and
when I tell my kids about this in the morning, they will be over the moon!
(couldn’t resist)
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