Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: constantine 2, francis lawrence

Constantine 2 Director Says The Film Is "Closer Than Ever"

Constantine 2 director Francis Lawrence confirms that the sequel is closer to happening than ever, and everyone involved is "super, super excited about it."

The new version of the DC Universe officially kicks off on the big screen this summer, but there are some movies that are in the works that should be considered legacy sequels at this point. Constantine 2 is one of those movies. The ironic thing that fans didn't like the portrayal of one of DC's biggest bisexual human disasters says a lot about the time. The cult following the movie gained after the fact means that the film never really left the cultural conversation in comic book movies as the genre continues to dominate. The project got the official greenlight, but things have been slow-moving, likely due to the schedules of everyone involved. However, director Francis Lawrence recently spoke to Collider and revealed, "I will say we are closer than ever to being able to do a sequel, which is a great thing. And Akiva, Keanu, and I are super, super excited about it."

One concern that people might have about Constantine 2 is that they've been kicking around the same idea for decades, and thus, the film will feel very dated. John Constantine himself has also continued to evolve in the comics, but if you think you'll be able to pick up one specific run to see where the movie is going, it sounds like that isn't the case. Lawrence seems to be implying that they will be drawing inspiration from all over the place and creating their own storyline.

"We have a great idea," Lawrence explained. "We have gone through a bunch of the comics over the years and looked at things. I will say that there's probably grains from things that we're pulling, but in truth, most of it is just coming from the three of us, you know, loving the character, loving the world, having it sort of in the back of our minds for 20 years and just kind of percolating on ideas, and stories and characters we love, and ideas we love."

Constantine 2 Has Been A Long Time Coming

Constantine was released seventeen years ago in 2005 and was part of the second wave of comic book movies becoming mainstream, which helped make the genre as dominant as it is today. While X-Men, Spider-Man, and Blade were the 1-2-3 punch that kicked things off, it was things like Hellboy in 2004, Constantine and Batman Begins in 2005, and X-2 in 2003 that really cemented that foundation. Hellboy and Constantine, doing well, proved that there was an audience beyond superheroes, much in the same way Blade did in 1998. Constantine brought in $230 million worldwide on a budget of $70-$100 million, which is pretty damn solid, and it has garnered an extremely loyal cult following over the years.

People have been begging for a sequel for years, and it has been rumored that one has been in the works for a long time. In September 2022, after over a month of pure chaos at Warner Bros. Discovery, they finally announced that a sequel was in the works. In November 2022, following the shakeups at DC Studios, Francis Lawrence confirmed he was still working on the project, and following the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes a year later in November 2023, he confirmed that Constantine 2 is his focus in the future. However, that was announced before another Hunger Games movie, Sunrise on the Reaping, but it's unclear whether or not that will throw a wrench in things since Lawrence will be returning to direct that film.

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