Director Robert Rodriguez has confirmed that he will be returning to direct We Can Be Heroes 2 and that it will begin filming next year. Hugely popular upon its release in December 2020, We Can Be Heroes featured a retired superhero, played by Pedro Pascal, who must rejoin the line to duty to fight an alien invasion. When the adult heroes are captured, their kids join together to form a new guard of heroic youngsters and save the world.
Rodriguez also directed The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D in 2005, and We Can Be Heroes functions as a sort of sequel to the film. The film features the return of Sharkboy (JJ Dashnaw) and Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley), plus their superhero daughter, Guppy (Vivien Blair). In addition to Pascal, Christian Slater and Priyanka Chopra add some adult star power to the cast. The primary star, however, is YaYa Gosselin, who plays Pascal’s daughter Missy, and will almost certainly reappear for the sequel.
In an interview with Collider, Rodriguez announced his definitive plans to direct the second installment starting next year. The filmmaker noted how well We Can Be Heroes behaved on Netflix, with repeat watches a regular occurrence for fans. Upon premiering, the streaming platform projected that the movie was watched by 44 million households over its first four weeks of release. Netflix struck while the iron was hot, locking down a sequel not even two full weeks after We Can Be Heroes premiered. Now, with Rodriguez confirmed to direct again, the streaming platform will try to make another hit. Check out Rodriguez’s exuberant reaction after being asked if the sequel would begin filming next year below:
“Oh, absolutely. I love making those films. They’re so creative. The adults have a great time too…[Netflix has] been shocked at how well it's kept doing. They call it unstoppable. They've never seen any movie behave like that. It just will not stop. Kids will just not stop watching it…The completion rate was really high, but also the repeat rate was just off the charts, because kids just will watch it in the morning before school and after school every day. So yeah, they definitely want a sequel, which I'm working on, because it's a new franchise for them.”
Rodriguez is familiar with helming franchises, having previously launched the Spy Kids series, which produced four films between 2001 and 2011. Netflix reportedly reached out to Rodriguez based on the strength of Spy Kids’ numbers on the platform. “Netflix came to me because the Spy Kids movies had done just so well on their service,” Rodriguez explained. “They said, ‘Could you make a series of films that do that?’ And I said, ‘I’d love to!’”
Although We Could Be Heroes is Rodriguez’s first foray into superhero films since Sharkboy and Lavagirl, the film is hyperaware of the growth of the superhero film complex since 2005. We Could Be Heroes takes many opportunities to reference the MCU and DC. Sometimes these references are tongue-in-cheek, such as the movie’s decision to mock the cheesy final shot of Joss Whedon’s Justice League. With a sequel on the horizon, audiences will see if We Could Be Heroes 2 will double down its efforts to reference other films within the genre. Perhaps it will go so far as to cast actors known for their work in the MCU. With the same filmmaker officially on board to direct, fans can be assured that Rodriguez isn’t afraid of some self-reflexive hijinks.
Source: Collider