When the movie first hit theaters in the summer 2008, Wanted gave off the impression that it possessed all of the ingredients to launch a hugely successful multi-film franchise, but the sequel never made it out of development hell.
Timur Bekmambetov’s slick, stylish actioner was a bombastic romp that boasted a cool gimmick with plenty of potential thanks to its cabal of assassins having the ability to curve bullets, while the solid ensemble featured James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Common and an early big screen outing for Chris Pratt.
Wanted made $341 million at the box office on a $75 million budget and generated enthusiastic responses from both audiences and critics, an impressive result for an R-rated title that wasn’t based on a particularly recognizable property. Despite several attempts to dust if off over the years, the second installment never managed to get off the ground.
In a new interview with ScreenRant, McAvoy revealed what he’d wanted to see in a hypothetical Wanted 2, even if that ship has likely long since sailed.
“I always fancied seeing what happened to Wesley Gibson in the movie, Wanted. Seeing how he went on in his life being a sort of vigilante assassin and what… And if you could come up with some sort of quite honest and real, but still fun and brutally violent story about that, that would always have been interesting.”
Bekmambetov revealed last year that his wild idea for Wanted 2 was to utilize ScreenLife technology, the subgenre that unfolds entirely on computer screens, webcams and cellphone cameras that he’s been pioneering in profitable hits including Searching and Unfriended. Just like McAvoy, though, the director’s plans are rooted more in theory than practice.