Sequel Update Including ‘G.I. Joe 2,’ ‘Star Trek 2,’ ‘Wolverine 2,’ ‘Sherlock 2’ and ‘Fast and Furious’

As big as the box-office haul will be for the six seven eight (sorry the list actually grew as I was writing this) films listed in the headline, this is going to be a rather short update on a per-film basis, but I guess that is all relative to how much information you think there should be.

I guess we’ll start with the first one and move on from there beginning with news Paramount is moving forward with a proposed G.I. Joe 2 as they are bringing in Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to pen the script. Rheese and Wernick were also recently commissioned to write 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool a spin-off of Ryan Reynold’s character from 2009’s Wolverine. The Stephen Sommers-directed G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra made over $300 million worldwide despite plenty of negative reviews.

Over at MTV we move to the world of Wolverine as they report Wolverine 2 may begin shooting in 2011. Star Hugh Jackman told the site, “Wolverine’s going to be back. He’s going to Japan. We shoot that probably in a year, year-and-a-half, something like that.”

Word has it the sequel will be based upon the classic Chris Claremont and Frank Miller “Wolverine” story (buy that here) that finds Logan facing off against a Japanese crime lord and falling for his daughter, Mariko. Valkyrie scripter Christopher McQuarrie (also co-writer of Bryan Singer’s first X-Men) signed on to pen the sequel back in August 2009. A director has not yet been named. Bryan Singer, as we recently learned, is aboard to direct X-Men: First Class for Fox.

Next comes the shortest bit of news as Mike Fleming at Deadline.com says Michael Bay’s Transformers 3 will likely go into production in May of this year for its July 1, 2011 release.

Vin Diesel is keeping his fans updated on his Facebook page recently dropping news of a Fast and Furious 5 and 6 posting the following message:

“I have never been submitted a two story saga from a studio before…it is very exciting and shows a commitment level that is hard not to respond to. Excited about the sexy locations the filming of this saga would take us…this novel-like story, that has twists and unexpected turns that is authentic, truthful and challenging to the characters.”

I, for one, had fun with 2009’s Fast and Furious and would like some more.

Just a quick note on the subject of the Breaking Dawn film: there is no drama over whether the book should be one movie or two. My personal feeling is that it would be very difficult to cram the whole story into one movie (as I’ve said in many interviews previous to this), but if a great way of doing that surfaces, I’m all for it. Two or one, whichever way fits the story best is fine by me, and everyone I’ve spoken with at Summit seems to feel the same way. We’re all excited to move forward on this, and we are slowly and surely getting there. I know people are anxious for news, and so sometimes gossip gets fabricated to stir things up, but there’s no basis to this particular story.

Finally, Entertainment Weekly brings word from an insider telling them Robert Downey Jr. has decided against starring in Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens due to a scheduling conflict with Sherlock Holmes 2, which EW has heard has been fast-tracked based on the success of the first film for a June start date with a script commissioned back in September from Kieran and Michele Mulroney already written. Guy Ritchie is expected to once again direct with Downey Jr. and Jude Law returning as Sherlock and Watson respectively.

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