Nicolas Cage and writer/director Andrew Niccol are returning for Lord Of War 2, which is going to start filming later than originally planned.
It came as something of a surprise earlier this year when it was announced that the excellent 2005 movie Lord Of War, from writer/director Andrew Niccol, was in line for a sequel.
If you’ve not seen the terrific original, it stars Nicolas Cage and – yes – Jared Leto, and for a start boasts one of the best opening credits sequences of that decade. It follows a rogue arms trader, where inevitably things go awry. And the $50m-ish production returned some $72m in cinema takings.
Over time, though, its reputation has grown, and thus the sequel news perhaps shouldn’t have been the surprise it was.
Nicolas Cage will be reprising the role of Yuri Orlov in whatever Lord Of War 2 ends up being called. Bill Skarsgard is also on board.
Crucially, Andrew Niccol is also penning the script again, and will step behind the camera to direct the feature. There had been the hope that it could get up and running 2023, but circumstances were not in its favour there.
The latest on Lord Of War 2 is that it’ll now start shooting in March 2024.
Producer Karim Debbagh has issued the update, where he revealed that the shoot is expected to last for 40 days. The bulk of production looks like it’s going to be taking place in Morocco.
It sounds like it’s going to be a mid-range budget production, benefitting from a range of tax debates.
No word on when we can expect a release for the movie, but our money would be on a 2025 release. Perhaps, at a push, a late 2024 outing, but Lords Of Wars 2 is likely to need some curating as a release, and might need a bit of festival love first.
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more…
