Studios these days are so focused franchises and trilogies, it’s weird to think that a movie could possibly be made without a built-in plan for numerous sequels. But in 2008, that’s exactly what happened with the Liam Neeson’s Taken, a surprise hit that was never intended to spawn a franchise. The sequel hit cinemas on Thursday where it was met with mixed reviews, but more importantly, it earned US$125 million worldwide. With that kind of cash, it seems pretty obvious that Taken is destined to become a trilogy and screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen has all but confirmed it according to FilmJunk:
“We didn’t start talking about [Taken 3] until we saw the numbers. But then we said, ‘Oh, okay. I think we should do a third one.’ And Fox wants us to do a third one… We’ve taken everyone we can take — it’s going to go in another direction. Should be interesting.”
The only question left, is how do you take Taken in a different direction?
Somewhat to Air Force 1 is the only way I see it. A whole commercial plane or something gets held hostage and Neeson has to save the day.
Although now that the third was announced perhaps there was some foreshadowing to Maggie Grace’s pony that she got at the start.