It didn't take long for 2003's Bad Santa to become a holiday classic. Tired of watching the super wholesome A Christmas Story or Miracle on 34th Street? Good, toss Bad Santa into the Blu-Ray player and got a dose of R-rated yuletide toilet humor, led by Billy Bob Thornton in arguably his best role. A sequel has been talked about and teased to death ever since, but now it's finally happening.
Thornton is coming back for Bad Santa 2, reprising his role as Willie Soke, the most degenerate shopping mall Santa Claus ever. The plan is for filming to begin in January with an aim towards a release during the 2016 holiday season. And that's pretty much all of the details that are available. No word on if Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, or Brett Kelly will be asked to return. As for a director, Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine) was attached at one point, but most recently Doug Ellin (Entourage) has been circling it, and recently told Collider that filming was to begin this year. That obviously isn't happening. He might not be involved any longer, though. At one point two competing screenplays had been commissioned, but the status of either one is very much up in the air.
As for original director Terry Zwigoff, that's unlikely to happen given all of the problems he ran into the last time. Not only did he have to battle the Coen Brothers after they did some rewrites, but The Weinstein Company had other directors come in and shoot material without his approval.
After all of these years is there still a demand for Bad Santa 2? What are your thoughts?
