Last year’s hilariously, joyfully dumb Need For Speed was not so much a video game movie as it was a “let’s blow up some cars real good” movie, but it also did well overseas. It only grossed $17.8M in its opening weekend in the U.S., while grossing $21.2M in its first weekend in China alone.
Dreamworks reportedly wanted Need For Speed to be their first big franchise after splitting with Paramount, and a soft opening in the U.S. isn’t going to stop EA Games from pushing forward with a sequel, it seems, especially since a new Need For Speed console and mobile game are coming later this year.
THR informs us Need For Speed 2 is in the works as a joint project between EA and the Chinese trio of companies China Movie Channel, Jiaflix, and 1905 Pictures. Those are the same three companies which teamed up with Paramount to make Transformers: Age Of Extinction, the all-time highest grossing movie in China ($300M in China alone).
This move makes financial sense if they’re going to get a sequel made; nearly a third of Need For Speed‘s $200M gross on a $66M budget came from China. THR also points out the sequel will be “an official co-production, which means much of the movie will be filmed in China with a significant amount of local talent.”
There’s no confirmation yet on whether or not Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) will return to star, although we don’t see how he couldn’t. That guy f*cking loves speed.
