It might not have seemed it at the time, but veteran-agents-take-on-their-former-employers action comedy Red was something of a stealth hit, earning nearly $200 million at the worldwide box office. Summit Entertainment has been toying with a sequel ever since, with word that writers Jon and Erich Hoeber had been hired to write the script. Now it has a director, with Dean Parisot taking the job.
He replaces Robert Schwentke, who opted not to return for a second round of Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren kicking young actors’ arses and taking names.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Willis, Malkovich and Mirren may all return, though no deals are locked in yet. It also mentions Morgan Freeman, though given that he – spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! – carked it thanks to a sniper’s bullet in the first film, we’d wonder if he’ll only crop up in flashbacks. Or if it’ll be revealed he had an identical twin brother all along. Either that, or he’ll step out of the shower at the start of this movie, revealing the original to be part of a dream…
However it shakes out, it’ll have to wait until Willis is done with Die Hard 5, and Summit wants **Red 2 **shooting before the end of year. It’ll mark Parisot’s return to the megaphone for the first time in more than six years, as he last made 2005’s mis-firing Jim Carrey comedy Fun With Dick And Jane.