It’s still somewhat surprising to me that Eli Roth pulled off a movie that was well-received based on a gag trailer from his joint love letter to 70s trash cinema Grindhouse. Yet here we sit with Roth’s recently released Thanksgiving holding a certified fresh rating and pulling in $30 million dollars on a $15 million dollar budget, a success by any measure. Yes, I know you’re thinking “But they already did that with Machete“. Well, true, but Danny Trejo as a machete wielding, motorcycle riding, bad-ass vigilante is a much easier sell then a slasher with a pilgrim themed bad guy.
If there’s one thing we knew leading up to the release of Thanksgiving it’s that Eli Roth has REALLY been wanting to make this movie. He’s elaborated on his desire to put out a full-length feature since just after the release of Grindhouse 15 years ago. With this in mind it should come as no surprise that Roth (and co-writer Jeff Rendell) are gearing up to start putting together a sequel. Sony’s Tri-Star Pictures arm (side note: I’m so nostalgically happy whenever I see Tri-Star mentioned…so many childhood memories started with that title card) has given the go-ahead on production so Roth and Rendell have a clear road to production.
This is the beauty of horror when done with a talented and creative filmmaker. All the drama held by the MCU, DCEU, and really anyone else wanting to spend 12 figures on producing a movie is completely absent. Make them cheap and make them good…that’s all you have to do. A wonderful little side effect of this is that when you don’t have to spend billions things seem to go faster, Roth has stated that he’s planning 2024 to write and shoot the film with a targeted 2025 release (presumably in November).