Charlize Theron is ready and willing to do Hancock 2. The original was released in 2008 and served as something of a unique take on the superhero genre, with a superhero played by Will Smith who had stopped caring about protecting people and had fallen out of favor. Now, more than a decade later, Theron is game to turn this into a franchise.
The Oscar-winning actress is currently promoting her new movie, The Old Guard, which is set to hit Netflix next month. During a recent interview, she was asked about the prospect of a Hancock sequel. Theron admits there were discussions some years back. Whether or not it’s something that could happen now remains to be seen. Here’s what she had to say.
“You know, for a while we [talked about a sequel]. I think closer to when the movie came out, but not in recent years, no. We’ll be superheroes with our walkers, you know. And I’ll still go! I’ll still make that movie, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Hancock centers on a sarcastic and misunderstood superhero who has lost his good favor with the general public. When be begrudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from a publicist, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), his life and reputation begin to improve. Things get complicated when he meets a woman (Charlize Theron) who has similar powers and holds the key to his secret past. It was directed by Peter Berg and co-written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.
Whether or not a sequel would make sense all these years later is the real question. Though Charlize Theron and Will Smith are still huge stars, which certainly doesn’t hurt matters. Theron is also no stranger to playing immortal characters, which is something that comes up again in The Old Guard. It also isn’t something she considered until recently.
“I’m making [that connection] now as we’re talking about it and I’ve been doing press. Because I never really put it together that I have played immortals before. Also in Snow White and the Huntsman and those two tentpole movies I played a woman who lived for many thousands of years. I never thought about it when I did this. I think, weirdly, I thought this was the first time I was doing it. Again, that might just be my age but I think it’s a good thing. I think you can always draw some comparison with some broad strokes, but the fact of the matter is that I think all of those women that I’ve played have been different circumstances, just different people, different surviving mechanisms. I mean, it’s intimidating as an actor. You’re like, ‘Well, how the hell do you even try to understand that?'”
Hancock was met with something of a mixed response upon release. Yet, it was quite a big success at the box office, bringing in $629 million. As is now and always has been the case in Hollywood, money talks. With the right idea, Hancock 2 could be a possible moneymaker. This news comes to us via Comicbook.com.
