A lot of people were surprised when Netflix revealed their top 10 most-watched original movies ever and they saw that Spenser Confidential had claimed the number three spot after racking up a massive 85 million streams in the first four weeks that it was available, mostly because there was very little hype or fanfare at all surrounding the action comedy.
Had it been released into theaters, it would have probably fared about as well as the rest of star Mark Wahlberg’s B-level genre efforts, but it dropped right when the Coronavirus restrictions were at their tightest, and with a lot more time on their hands than they’d ever been used to, it apparently became appointment viewing for subscribers.
It certainly ranks among the lesser of Wahlberg and director Peter Berg’s five collaborations, with the filmmaker having not made a movie without his regular leading man since 2012 box office bust Battleship. Spenser Confidential was about as uninspired and formulaic as the buddy sub-genre can get, but based on the massive viewing numbers, it appears that a sequel is on the way, as Berg confirmed in a recent interview.
“Brian Helgeland, who wrote the first script, just turned in a first draft last week. So we’re definitely going to do Spenser Confidential 2, we’re just trying to figure out the dates. Wahlberg is in Germany now doing a film. I’m going to do something else before Spenser Confidential 2, but we’re definitely going to do that. I’m sure Mark and I will be 85, 90 years old making movies together. We love working together.”
Wahlberg is currently busy shooting Uncharted alongside Tom Holland after the video game adaptation finally crawled out of development hell, while Berg has yet to officially announce his next project, so the Spenser Confidential sequel could realistically be in front of cameras by the middle of next year.
In any case, Netflix have intentions to aim for the stars but seem happy to consistently churn out mid-budget and forgettable action movies instead, and with a built-in audience of 85 million people, it looks like the streaming service might just have a franchise on their hands here.