A sequel to Luc Besson's 2014 science fiction movie Lucy is moving forward. The movie starred Scarlett Johansson as the eponymous character, who was an unwilling drug mule for the Korean mob and, due to unfortunate circumstances, the bag of drugs she was transporting (inside her abdomen) had broken and contaminated her system. The drugs allowed her to supposedly use 100 percent of her brain (following the 10 percent brain myth), thus giving her the ability to traverse through space and time and, eventually, transform herself into a supercomputer.
Lucy had released in July 2014 opposite Brett Ratner's Hercules, starring Dwayne Johnson, and one week before James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy. Although it performed modestly well domestically, it earned most of its grosses from overseas markets, raking in over $463 million at the worldwide box office against an estimated production budget of $40 million. Adding to the fact that it garnered generally positive reviews from critics, it made sense that Besson would consider making a sequel, despite having once said that the film didn't need one. And now, three years later, Lucy 2 appears to be moving forward.
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EuropaCorp CEO Marc Shmuger told Variety at a recent shareholder meeting in Paris that they are readjusting their lineup following the commercial failure of Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets this past summer. Part of that adjustment includes pushing forward with Lucy 2, which Shmuger says Besson has already written a script for. It's unclear, however, if they plan on getting Johansson back for the sequel. Considering what happened to her character at the end of the first movie, it would be interesting to see what Besson comes up with for Lucy 2.
Besson co-founded EuropaCorp at the turn of the century, which employs a unique financing model that allows them to take high risks with properties, such as Valerian, and still possibly come out in the green, despite the movies potentially flopping at the worldwide box office. However, following Valerian's release, EuropaCorp plans on scaling back their push into more general productions and put their focus back into action thrillers and sci-fi films. Furthermore, going forward, they will release two or three English-language films per year alongside two French movies with lower budgets than usual.
Considering that Lucy has been one of their most successful films in recent years, it makes sense that its sequel is one of the projects that they have in active development. However, with Besson about to enter production on another action thriller, it might be some time before Lucy 2 hits theaters.
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Source: Variety