No shock here. Amazon MGM is keeping it in-house when finding a replacement director for Road House 2, following the sudden exit of Guy Ritchie. Deadline reports Heads of State director Ilya Naishuller will take over the barroom-brawling sequel starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
Naishuller’s most recent film, the John Cena/Idris Elba action-comedy Heads of State, has been a solid hit for Amazon MGM on Prime Video, ranking #1 for three weeks. Clearly, they took notice of that success, plus Naishuller’s skill with the genre. Other films on Naishuller’s resume include the video game flick Hardcore Henry and the Bob Odenkirk actioner Nobody. Pretty good list.
Road House 2 will have a script by Will Beall, and there’s talk of Dave Bautista coming aboard in a co-starring role. The first film was a reimagining of the 1989 classic starring Patrick Swayze, and centered on Dalton, an ex-UFC fighter who becomes a bouncer at a rowdy Florida bar. He gets into lots of fights and keeps forgetting to wear shirts. It’s unclear what the plot of the next movie will be. Dalton hightailed it outta town at the conclusion, so he could pop up anywhere.
Nothing against Naishuller, whose movies I’ve liked a lot, but Ritchie and original director Doug Liman brought big-screen cachet that Naishuller just doesn’t right now. We’ll see how this turns out. I’m cautiously optimistic.
