Never mind the at-best lukewarm reviews (currently 35% at Rotten Tomatoes), The Hangover II grossed over $200 million at the worldwide box office in its extended, five day opening weekend that started last Thursday. So if you would think that studio Warner Brothers would be already thinking about a sequel, you would be right.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Craig Mazin, who co-wrote the second film about a trio of guys who blackout during a a rowdy bachelor party and then have to re-trace their steps to piece together what happened the night before, is already in talks to write a third installment.
It’s not like the possibility of a third film hadn’t been thought about about before this weekend’s box office numbers were though. Reportedly the studio was already considering a Part III several weeks ago when Warners saw how well the movie was doing in the tracking of pre-release audience interest. While doing the press rounds for the film, director Todd Philips had stated that he had an idea for a third film, while some of the cast had joked that they would like to see a third movie take the hapless bachelor partiers travel to Amsterdam.
While it is understandable that Warners would not want to walk away from the table while there is still money on it, I seriously wonder how much more this particular premise can be worked for new material, especially when the second film is coming under fire for rehashing much of the first film. And locating the third film in Amsterdam strikes me as a lazy excuse to recycle a bunch of thirty-five year old Cheech and Chong jokes.
