'Salt' Sequel Looking Like a Strong Possibility

A few weeks ago, we thought it was a given that Salt would get a sequel. It had a big opening weekend, stars one of the most recognizable people in the world, is wide open for follow-ups, and a Salt II has already been discussed. However, The Los Angeles Times says Sony wants to get a better sense of the international box office before it commits to a franchise. So far, Salt has made a little north of $160 million, $100 million of which is US money. This is the same studio that saw 2012 open with almost $150 million outside the US. There is work left to be done, in other words. But writer Kurt Wimmer says he's come up with "ideas for how to advance the story," and director Phillip Noyce - not a franchise guy, really - says he's interested in coming back. Good pay days are tough to argue with. The big key is that Angelina Jolie wants to do this again, and just by the way she so completely committed to the role physically, Jolie was clearly enjoying herself. Still, a movie that cost $110 million and returned less than three times that (remember, budgets don't factor in theater rentals, print costs, or marketing) is not a hit. And it's probably not enough scratch to convince Sony that this deserves a sequel. They're usually more expensive and expansive and while they also tend to make more money because the DVD market introduces new fans to the property, will it create 30% - 50% more audience? I think if they do more with the story there's a real possibility. Salt is silly, but on key points it works very well, so if they tighten things up for Jolie's next run, I could see a sequel being a big leap forward. So if this thing can get going overseas (it's just opened in quite a few markets in the past week, with a UK debut this weekend, and it will arrive in Germany early next month), then it looks promising. Well, if you liked it, it looks promising.

Comments

[J.Bradley]

Of Jolie's action movies, this is the "smartest" one and maybe why she'd prefer to do another one of these rather than a Tomb Raider, Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Wanted. Still though, it's an action movie born of Bourne, so maybe there's not enough people that think this is something that's more than what they've seen already. I don't know if anybody's done any demographic breakdown on this but I think the chicks really dig this movie. The need a macha-hero, so maybe if Sony thinks this'll be a franchise that they can position to get the female audience to counter some future release, another one might get made for that reason.