Why we may never see Wanted 2

This post contains SPOILERS for those who haven’t seen Wanted.

Wanted did make a lot of money at the box-office, but the studio has been struggling to get a sequel off the ground for a while now, and we never see it (here). There’s only one thing holding a sequel back, Angelina Jolie. Those who have seen the film know her character meets a tragic end, but the studio wants to bring her back regardless. And that is what’s keeping a sequel from getting off the ground.

Super Hero Hype interviewed Mark Millar, who created the comic, and revealed why we’ll likely never see another film. “It’s almost like a riddle. “Wanted” made so much money, but it cost $70 million but they made $250, so they want a sequel, but they killed off the reason that it made that money, so they’re trying to figure out a way of bringing Angelina back from the dead, and they can’t figure it out. Every month or so I’ll talk to the guys at Universal, and they’ll say ‘We’ll talk to some screenwriters, we’ll do another draft’, and Angelina’s like ‘my character’s dead, I’m not coming back.’ There’s been two or three screenplays,” he said. Not surprising as it’s a little difficult to resurrect a character, especially when she ended the way she did.

Wanted was a fun, over-the-top action film, but the film really carried itself as stand-alone film. Perhaps it’s best to keep this as a one-off. Not to mention Millar never intended to continue the story beyond one comic (here), and saw it necessary to continue the story. But many have acknowledge that Wanted didn’t stick close to the source, and the studio could just create their own material for a sequel.