Between Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Blade Runner 2 and in all likelihood Indiana Jones 5, Harrison Ford is already set to (or expected to) reprise a handful of his most famous characters in the coming years, and it seems we might be able to add a fourth role to that list: Dr. Richard Kimble, the titular character of the 1993 thriller The Fugitive.
That’s right, a new sequel to the surprise box office hit and Best Picture nominee is in the works at Warner Bros., with Black List writer Christina Hodson set to pen the script, and while Ford isn’t yet confirmed to return one has to wonder if the name recognition would help the films chances at financial success.
The Fugitive received a sequel in 1998 in the form of U.S. Marshals, and while that film retained Tommy Lee Jones, who previously won an Oscar for his original performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard, the sequel only mustered up $102.4 million at the worldwide box office compared to the massive $368.9 million worldwide haul of the first film. Of course, this all raises the question: Is Harrison Ford even a box office draw anymore?
Based on the popular 1960s television series of the same name and nominated for seven Academy Awards, The Fugitive is a film I only recently managed to catch up with and as a big fan of crime thrillers I really enjoyed it. I hardly find a sequel necessary, but such is the way Hollywood operates these days: look back a couple decades, find a story that really worked, and figure out a way retell it and repackage it.
I’ll be curious to see where exactly Hodson decides to take the story, especially if Ford and-or Jones return. Frankly, bringing either character back into the fold would appear to unnecessarily force the story into a corner, so if this thing is going to happen I vote Warners goes more for a film in the vein of The Fugitive as opposed to a direct sequel with story continuity. But then, I’m not writing the script, am I?
Original reports at Deadline and The Guardian.
