The big question now is, who is going to play the second mate? That person will, in essence, be taking over Butler’s role as the second slot in the two-hander we have set up here. Begin your fan-casting now. The project is currently being shopped around at the European Film Market in Berlin. MadRiver Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, and G-BASE are all returning to produce the follow-up. No word yet on if Lionsgate is in the mix to pick up the sequel or not, as they distributed “Plane.” Though, one does wonder if they would even be interested.
“Plane” currently sits at $43 million at the global box office, against a budget said to be between $25 and $35 million. When accounting for marketing and what theaters keep of the ticket sales, it would appear very much like the film is not yet in profits. Has it performed exceptionally well on VOD? That seems to be the only thing that would make sense at this point. The other option is that the sequel will be much, much more cost-effective. Similarly, the original “Escape Plan” made just $103 million against a $70 million budget a decade ago, but it received two much cheaper sequels. Again, that was a Lionsgate production.
In any event, this one seems to be well underway already as the plan is apparently to shoot it later this year, meaning they are not going to waste a second in capitalizing on what is, apparently, a good opportunity for the producers. “Ship” does not have a release date set but sometime in late 2024 seems possible, if not early 2025.