Posted in: Movies, Universal | Tagged: Violent Night 2

Violent Night 2 Writers On Expanding Santa's Backstory In The Sequel

Violent Night 2 writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller explain that they are eager to explore more of Santa's Viking backstory.

The writers of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 are taking a well-earned victory lap right now as the third movie in the franchise has done well at both box office and critically. However, there is another film they wrote that came out of nowhere to be a much bigger hit than anyone thought it would be: Violent Night. The premise sounds like one that either will fall apart the second the film starts or it will slap so hard it will leave a mark, and it turned out to be the latter. A sequel has been kind of in the works for a while, but writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller have been doing the rounds for Sonic, and now they can talk a little about Violent Night 2.

We know the script for Violent Night 2 isn't done, but it sounds like they know the direction they want to head in, as the two writers recently explained in an interview with Collider. "The Violent Night movies are not as big budget as the Sonic movies, but we still want this one to feel bigger than the first one. And you don't want Santa just trapped in a mansion again," said Miller about the first movie's single location element, which worked exceptionally well. When you have a star like David Harbour, you need to lean into the aspects that work, including, "Santa's gonna take his shirt off even more in this one. We know what the people want," teased Casey. A little more skin getting on screen isn't a bad thing, but the mythology that was hinted at in the first movie is one aspect they are eager to explore in the second film. Casey continued, "We know people are hungry for more of his Viking backstory. David is especially excited about that stuff."

Nobody and Violent Night: Universal's Bloody 1-2 Pandemic Punch

Nobody and Violent Night were rare pandemic movies that did well at the box office and were well received by critics and audiences. Universal seemed to understand there was some serious potential there if they decided to tap into it, and it, along with Violent Night, became the two R-rated series that the studio was looking to pursue new entries. We didn't hear much about the film for a while, with the latest news coming out of South by Southwest in March 2024 detailing the studio's commitment to both franchises. Violent Night came out a little later than Nobody, but the box office was still very much in recovery mode when the film was released in late 2022. It grossed just over $75 million on a budget of $20 million and received generally positive reviews from the public and critics. A sequel was officially confirmed to be in some form of development in January 2023, but there hasn't been any word about a potential release date.

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