Can The Person Who Wants ‘Speed 3′ Please Stand Up!

Movie fans have a special love/hate relationship with sequels. We love it when sequels to our favorite movies go into production – but we are the first to point the finger when the studio gets it wrong.

Now it looks like 20^th Century Fox wants to pillage even more of their back-catalog and it appears that Speed may have zoomed into pole position on the studio’s list. Not only that – but Jack Traven, the character played by Keanu Reeves in the original is apparently in the scriptment that is making the rounds over at Fox.

So… will we really see another Speed film?

Or the more important question: “Does anybody really want to watch Speed 3?”

In 1994 two young actors named Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock starred in a film directed by a former cinematographer named Jan De Bont. That film was Speed and the film was the sleeper hit of the 1994 summer season. Three years later Speed 2: Cruise Control was released, and the film was an unmitigated disaster. Transplanting the action from a bus that couldn’t go under 50 miles per hour to a cruise ship in the Bahamas reeked on paper, and stank even more on the screen. The film was a huge financial disappointment grossing less than $50 million from a then HUGE $160 million budget.

When Keanu Reeves turned it down – you know that it had to be bad.

Will this thing ever be made or is the studio just spit-balling ideas?

Your guess is as good as mine. Reeves’ quality control may not be the best – but even he isn’t so hard up that he needs to revisit an old action franchise, especially one which he ditched after the first installment. Although a few years ago I would have said that about Bruce Willis returning to the Die Hard franchise (another Fox property).

Heck, even Vin Diesel is returning to The Fast and The Furious after a two movie sabbatical. So a precedent has already been set.

Also, Reeves is soon to be seen in The Day The Earth Stood Still, and guess what? The film is a Fox release. So there may be something to this more than gossip.

There’s no word on Sandra Bullock returning, but while Reeves may be on board, I can’t see Sandra Bullock returning – she’s gone on to do “serious” films and I’d be surprised if she returned to this genre. One person who will not be returning for sure is helmer Jan De Bont. According to a scooper for Cinema Blend:

“Jan won’t touch it with a five foot pole though – they offered it to him a while ago.”

Do we still feel the need for Speed?

My guess is no, but as I always say in these situations – money talks!

Heck, the rumor could have been started by a crazy Keanu Reeves fan, or even by a screenwriter who has written a script on spec.

We shall find out soon enough, and when we do I’ll let you know.

Sources: Aintitcool and Cinemablend