It Ends With Us is the success story of the summer, financially. Forget Deadpool & Wolverine, this female-orientated drama currently sits at $242 million at the box office from a tiny budget of $25 million, with it being a “must-see” fixture on many girls’ viewing lists.
So a sequel is all but assured, especially as the Colleen Hoover book of the same name already has a sequel written and published, right? Wrong!
The trouble is, a feud seems to have exploded between the director / lead Justin Baldoni, and the co-lead, Blake Lively. Variety has covered this in some detail.
Baldoni didn’t get photographed with the rest of the cast at the premiere for It Ends With Us. This was after rumors of a clash over the final cut with Lively. Lively also let slip in an interview that her husband – Ryan Reynolds – had helped her write a scene for the final cut.
This was a surprise to Baldoni as he had been led to believe that Lively ad-libbed the scene. The reports go on to say that even outside of this, there is a real problem and the two of them will likely not be able to work together again. As the report says:
“This is uncharted territory, and nobody has any idea of what a sequel could look like. There’s probably no world where these two will work together again.”
Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios has the sequel rights, so he could be a total blocker. When asked by Entertainment Tonight at the movie’s premiere about the sequel, he said he was unlikely to direct it, saying:
“I think there are better people for that. I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct.”
Given this all coming out now, it seems that this may have been a barb aimed at Lively.
Blake Lively got some negative press during the publicity tour for this movie after seemingly being quite short and blunt with an interviewer. It Ends WIth Us is still out in theaters.