Need for ‘Speed 3’: 20th Century Head Declares They are Ready to Green Light Sequel with Bullock and Reeves
“Hollywood is brave enough.”
That’s the response of 20th Century Studios President Steve Asbell to Sandra Bullock, who made a comment during the recent 30th-anniversary screening of Speed that she and Reeves, who also sat in on the panel after the screening, that they were ready to reunite for a third installment in the franchise, “if Hollywood is brave enough.”
“We are brave enough. We are sitting by the phone,” quipped Asbell in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “[Speed] is one of those last movies that we haven’t remade,” he told the Reporter. “And to really be a reason to come back, it’s got to be a great idea and an idea that excites (Bullock and Reeves). Because that’d be the reason to see it. It’s obviously a really important title for us, but it’s not something we would handle lightly or just try to press them into service. They’d have to be a part of the development of that idea.”
Since Asbell used the word “remade,” he could be hinting at a revamping of the original, or another story altogether set in the same universe as the original.
Speed‘s sole sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control, did not star Reeves (Jason Patric stepped in as leading man), and is widely considered a critical and box office disaster.
Speaking at the panel, Bullock indicated she was willing to return in Speed 3, joking that it would have to be “the geriatric version. It won’t be fast.” She also hinted she might be involved in a different capacity, such as story development or producing.
Reeves suggested Speed 3 could focus on “retirement.”
Earlier this year on the 50 MPH podcast, Bullock did mention she wanted to partner with Reeves on screen, though. “Before I die, before I leave this planet, I do think that Keanu and I need to do something in front of the camera.”
Director Jan de Bont, who helmed the 1994 original and who also attended the Speed panel, would have to be involved, per Bullock. “All these things happened because the crazy man [de Bont]…over there. He’s the man who put the energy and the idea together, knew what the audience wanted and demanded it from everyone and everyone stepped up to play it. So what would that movie be that would make Jan’s brain and brilliance happy? It would require a lot from everybody.”
At the panel, De Bont also expressed his interest in such a project, as he would love to work with the duo again.
In the THR interview, Asbell addressed some of the studio’s other franchises, saying he was working to develop a prequel for Master and Commander, but that there were no plans to do either a Kingsman sequel nor continue the Die Hard movie series…at least, “not yet.”