The Italian Job was a surprisingly solid remake of the Michael Caine 1969 cult classic but will planned sequel The Brazilian Job ever happen? The Italian Job remake assembled an incredible cast, with Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road), Mark Wahlberg, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham and Ed Norton leading the project. Sadly, the film proved not to be a fun time for Norton, who accused the studio of forcing his involvement by invoking an old contractual obligation and he declined to promote it.
The Italian Job would prove to be a solid hit for Paramount upon release and also received good reviews. That said, there were complaints the movie's trailer essentially acted like a two minute summary of the entire movie. Talk of a sequel dubbed The Brazilian Job soon emerged which would reunite the original cast for another heist, but the project soon slid into development hell and has yet to reemerge.
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Over 15 years after The Italian Job the cast are still busy as ever, so is there still any hope for The Brazilian Job?
The Brazilian Job Was Written and Budgeted
Writer/director David Twohy (Riddick) submitted a script called The Wrecking Crew to Paramount in hopes of getting it made, but they felt it could form the basis of an Italian Job sequel instead. The script was thus reworked to become The Brazilian Job and numerous drafts were written, with Robert Wade and Neal Pervis (Spectre) also taking a crack at the script.
The Brazilain Job would have seen the crew reunite for a new heist involving diamonds, with some of the story taking place in Belgium. The movie's producer once revealed the script had been fully budgeted but the project was put on hold by Paramount, who kept pushing the release date.
Lack Of Studio Interest Killed The Brazilian Job
It seems the real issue with The Brazilian Job is the studio didn't push for it. A script was developed and the cast and crew were tentatively attached, but between regime changes and internal studio politics, the sequel was never made a priority. Years after The Brazilian Job was announced even the cast had grown sick of talking about it, with Statham wishing it was removed from the IMDb and others confirming that while it was a possibility it probably wasn't going to happen.
While The Italian Job was a hit, given the amount of time that's passed since its release it's now very unlikely a sequel will happen. Wahlberg, Theron, and Statham have all moved on to bigger projects and a remake is more likely at this point than a direct follow-up. The Fast & Furious series - which coincidentally reunited Theron and Statham in The Fate Of The Furious - has also stolen much of its big ensemble cast/elaborate car chase thunder.
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An Italian Job TV Series Is In Development
It was announced in 2016 Paramount TV was developing an Italian Job TV series remake. The premise would feature a crew that assembles to break their mentor out of jail, and the idea was to make it a large scale, globe-trotting affair. Like The Brazilian Job, little has been heard about this project in recent years, so it's unknown if it's still being actively developed.