Director Joe Carnahan always had plans to direct a straight to DVD follow-up prequel to his movie Smokin’ Aces. The trouble came when the movie didn’t do so well at the Box Office (a fine $53 million worldwide but not a figure that cries out ”sequel”) plans of any future movies in the series were scrapped.
However, Smokin’ Aces is said to be selling very well on DVD and it’s gathering somewhat of a cult following. Now, there may very well be a follow-up movie after all…
“Universal wants to move ahead with a direct-to-video prequel of ‘Smokin’ and asked me if I wanted to Godfather the thing and make sure we did a really cool story,” Caranhan reveals. “The DVD numbers ‘Smokin’ Aces’ has done are astounding and they want to strike while the iron is hot. Whatever reluctance I have is alleviated by the fact that we can really do this balls out, hardcore prequel and not be constrained by ratings or any other puritanical MPAA bullsh*t. That I love.”
Carnahan’s original idea was for the prequel to revolve around The Tremor Brothers. They of course were the Neo-Nazi redneck assassins played by Chris Pine, Kevin Durand and Maury Sterling. There’s no reason for us to presume those plans have changed.
This has to be a win-win situation for Carnahan. He gets to make any type of fun movie he likes, he can experiment if he wants too, blow some shit up and forget about narrative structure all together. Basically he can just go out and have fun… and if the movie gets a cult following then all the better for his reputation. If it fails… who cares? It’s under the radar and he got to have some fun making it!
source – slash film
4 Comments
This could be fun. They weren’t my favourite of the bunch but certainly the most interesting.
I’ve been a fan of Carnahan’s work since NARC. Anyone who hasn’t seen it needs to. It’s a worthy (and in some senses superior) addition to such pieces as The French Connection. And to do it under the circumstances and the tiny (3-5 million dollar) budget he did it for makes it more so.
I was disheartened with the numbers Smokin Aces did at the box-office. I was thinking this would be Joe’s break-out film like Pulp fiction was Tarantino’s. But 1.5 million DVD sales it’s done -WOW! It only confirms what I though -this movie was hurt by bad marketing not because it was a bad movie. And Joe has been vindicated.
If it were up to me I’d say put the sequel in theaters. Hey, if Ocean’s Twelve’s numbers justified a sequen then Smokin Aces should definitely get one.
I thought Piven’s character was the most interesting, but they have done his movie now I guess.
Your right JaySmack, that’s another advantage Carnahan has with this film. If he makes it a knockout, then the chance is always there for them to put the movie into theatres.
Carnahan’s got some huge movies on the horizon. It may not have done so well at the Box Office, but he sure is getting noticed.
I read White Jazz last year, along with a lot of James Ellroy’s other post WW2 works (have yet to read LA Confidential, ironically) and I can’t wait to see what Carnahan does with that stuff! After NARC this Carnahan is exactly the kind of guy to do the no-rules zero-tolerance anti-hero thug/cop.
I wait on pins for his next work.