The King’s Man’s bomb at the box office is a problem for a sequel despite the movie's perfect mid-credits tease of Adolf Hitler. The scene may try to entice audiences with the promise of a new cinematic take on Hitler, the leader of Germany’s Third Reich and the man responsible for the murder of six million Jews, but a disappointing Christmas weekend box-office suggests audiences have little appetite. Unfortunately, this could waste an extremely exciting Kingsman sequel setup.
As a prequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service, which charmed audiences in 2015 as a classy send-up of the spy-movie genre, The King’s Man explores the origins of the parodical agency. The main character is a grieving pacifist-turned-trained killer played by Ralph Fiennes. Though Duke Orland of Oxford successfully defeats terrorist mastermind Shepherd, ruining his plans to create an Avengers of real-life dictators including Lenin and Rasputin, the damage is great. World War One, which was engineered by Shepherd, claims the life of Oxford’s son, Conrad. Oxford forms The Kingsman in Conrad’s memory. The mid-credit scene perfectly teases a follow-up film by introducing the communist revolutionary Lenin to the future fascist leader Hitler, implying a sequel team-up that will test the Kingsman like never before.
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However, despite this intriguing premise, the sequel now looks unlikely. The King’s Man bombed at the box office with $10 million in its five-day debut, and that includes $6.4 million for the three-day weekend. Compared to Spider-Man: No Way Home’s five-day total of $138.6 million, that’s a big problem. Numbers like these don’t bode well for a sequel’s chances, so Hitler and Lenin’s movie team-up may not happen after all. It is possible that The King's Man movie finds a second life on streaming, but by the time that happens, the actors' schedules will likely be filled with other work. It's not looking good for a sequel, even despite the teaser in The King's Man ending.
This is an unfortunate outcome for fans of The King’s Man, who have the problem of potentially not seeing the story completed. It’s also a problem for Adolf Hitler actor David Kross, who is in a unique position to put a new spin on the character after so many years. Many film crew jobs may even disappear if a sequel does not move forward. There also hasn’t been much of a fan push on social media for 20th Century Studios and Disney to give the mid-credits scene proper consideration before pumping the breaks on a sequel. The want for another Kingsman sequel doesn’t appear seem to be there in the movie-going public.
Making a movie requires an extensive amount of time, money, people, and resources. Because it bombed, The King’s Man may end up being a stand-alone prequel, and the series that began with Colin Firth as a cool Austin Powers may never get to follow through on its promise of Adolf Hitler. While this may come as a disappointment to some fans, it's clear that the series now faces an uncertain future.