Director Already Planning 'Defendor' Sequel

The Woody Harrelson civilian superhero movie, Defendor, fared very well this month at the Toronto Film Festival, and was picked up shortly thereafter by Sony for a yet-to-be-announced US release. Now, The Nightly Gamer reports a sequel is already being planned. There's a lot of that going around these days, where movies with smaller budgets like The Hangover and Kick-Ass start building buzz for part two before the first film is even released. But director Peter Stebbings seems to have a sequel well in mind already, and he discussed the possibility of keeping the story going at Cinefest in Sudbury, Ontario. While he did say Woody Harrelson wouldn't be returning for the next installment, but his idea is to call in Defendors, shifting the focus to "a couple of guys that idolize the Defendor.” We saw a little bit of that in The Dark Knight with the Batman impostors, and I'm sure psychologically, that kind of idolatry is fairly common. Or would be if the characters were real. It'll be interesting to see if Stebbings already has a deal in place (even a first-look option) with Sony or if the studio wanted to gauge the box office of Defendor first. It wouldn't take much to make it a hit, though, especially from Sony's perspective. All they're paying for is distribution. And if it's as appealing to mainstream audiences as it has been to the festival crowds, that should the road even easier.