Luc Besson's 2014 sci-fi action flick Lucy was an unexpected smash, earning $463M worldwide and catapulting Scarlett Johansson into the realm of box office heavyweights. What it didn't do was set Besson and Johansson up as permanently bankable stars because their next stabs at the genre both flopped. For Johansson it was the similar Ghost in the Shell, which tapped out at $169M. For Besson it was the big budget disaster, Valerian, which barely broke even with $223M. And it's that latter film's failure which has led to their potential reunion on a Lucy sequel.
Besson has now completed his script for Lucy 2, with his EuroCorp banner confirming the film is happening. They actually revealed this a couple of years ago but this is concrete news that development has begun. The reason why it's happening now is the hit EuroCorp's stock shares took because of Valerian, and there is a renewed focus on action flicks and sci-fi movies. There's no word on Johansson's return but we have to assume they want her back, right? I'm not sure how that could happen considering how the first film ended, but I think the genre always allows for one to write themselves out of a corner. If Johansson agrees to return you can bet Besson will find a way to make it happen and make reasonable sense. Or not. The ending of Lucy didn't make much sense, so why should the sequel?
It's possible Besson won't be behind the camera next time, either. There's a good chance he'll hand the reins over to one of his many proteges, because he's actually got another film, a $30M English-language feature, ready to shoot later this month. [Variety]
