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

Francis Lawrence Says That Constantine 2 "Is My Focus Now"

Now that The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is out, director Francis Lawrence says that "my focus is on Constantine 2."

Director Francis Lawrence returned to The Hunger Games with The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which was officially released in theaters last weekend. While the film hasn't exactly been a critical or commercial smash hit, it seems to be doing all right for itself. Now that the movie is out, though, Lawrence can turn his attention to another universe he is reportedly returning to. Constantine 2 has been in varying levels of rumors and development for years, but it appears to be what they are pursuing now. Lawrence recently got to speak to The Hollywood Reporter about returning to the Hunger Games universe. Still, they also asked him about returning to this universe again after yet another leadership shift at Warner Bros. and DC.

"No, but we've had many obstacles. Me, Keanu, Akiva [Goldsman] have tried over the years to wrangle some control of the character again because it had been handed over," Lawrence explained. "I think NBC did a TV show, and then J.J. [Abrams] was going to try and do something. And then the regime at DC changed, and they've got their plans. But luckily, we managed to wrangle some control and started working on some ideas for Constantine 2, which we're really excited about. It's still the very beginning, as the strike put it on hold for a little bit. So we're probably going to start getting back together after Thanksgiving and dig back in to try and crack it." As someone who absolutely loves Matt Ryan's portrayal of Constantine, the dismissal of the show that could have been something if given the chance makes me very sad.

When asked about the I Am Legend film that has also been in development with Goldsman, Lawrence explained, "It's a tough one. We talked about a sequel or prequel right after we made the original one. Then we all went off and did different things. And then I remember hearing that they were going to just do a reboot of it and remake it with somebody else, but then that went away. I know that Akiva is working on something now, but honestly, my focus is on Constantine 2. So we'll see." Considering the state of Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios, they could use an easy win, and Constantine 2 does seem like an easy win. The budget doesn't need to be insane; keeping it within the same budget as the first one would be wise, and maybe doing some limited theatrical runs of the first one in the lead-up to drum up hype before the release would help too because there are people who weren't old enough to see the original in theaters when it was released in 2005.

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 over at Warner Bros. Discovery, they finally announced that a sequel was in the works.

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