Guy Ritchie has been quietly showing himself to be a much more accomplished filmmaker than many gave him credit for. Perhaps boxed in by some into this “Mockney Gangster” pigeonhole from Lock Stock, through Snatch, to The Gentleman, he knocked it out of a completely different park for Aladdin, Wrath Of Man remains superb, and The Covenant was a complete surprise. So Road House 2 always felt a little bit… beneath him?
It seems like, maybe, others agreed, as according to The Hollywood Reporter, Guy Ritchie has exited the Amazon MGM Studios sequel.
Ritchie signed up in April after taking over from Doug Liman. Liman had walked after falling out with Amazon bigwigs over the lack of a cinematic release. When we saw Road House on Amazon, we understood why. It was not that great. It seemed to have been made by people who had either never seen the original 80s cheesefest, or who saw it and failed to take any pointers from it whatsoever.
Jake Gyllenhaal is set to return as Dalton, a former UFC fighter who took a job as a lead bouncer at a roadside bar in the Florida Keys. Things in the tropical paradise turned out not to be quite as they seem on the surface. Road House pulled in nearly 80 million worldwide viewers in its first eight weeks.
The sequel’s story remains a secret at the moment, but we know that Will Beall (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F) is writing the script.
Clearly, the story will revolve around the big-bad from the previous instalment being part of something bigger, with ramifications and challenges for our plucky Road House crew.
Charles Roven, Alex Gartner, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Josh McLaughlin produce.
