With Bridesmaids and The Hangover II getting most of the press last summer, you could be forgiven if you regard the “Let’s murder our employers!” comedy Horrible Bosses as nothing more than a blip on the radar. But that blip managed to gross $209 million at the worldwide box office, a nice return for a film that only cost New Line $35 million. And when a film does that kind of business that can only mean one thing – a sequel.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, New Line has hired Horrible Bosses writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to start work on a follow up adventure for the three characters played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis. The three actors are expected to return for the sequel. (I wouldn’t be surprised if there were sequel clauses in their contracts.) Director Seth Gordon is reportedly in early talks with the studio to return as well.
Needless to say, there are no details yet as to what direction the sequel’s plot may take. Will it take the Hangover II route and be roughly a carbon copy of the first film with the three guys once again trying to off their oppressive employers? Hopefully not. I think a more interesting twist would see one of them the target of a murder plot from one of their own underlings and dealing with the fact that they have turned into the very things they hated.
Since Daley and Goldstein first collaborated on the Horrible Bosses script, they have worked on the upcoming Jim Carey and Steve Carell comedy Burt Wonderstone and the animated sequel, Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs 2.
