While it didn’t shatter box office records, Edge of Tomorrow earned a solid $370 million worldwide and was very well received by critics. With a positive reaction and a nice chunk of money earned, there wasn’t much surprise we’d get a sequel. What was a little surprising is that Edge of Tomorrow 2 is actually going to be a prequel to the first film, according to a report by Collider.com’s Adam Chitwood.
The original film had a novel, simplistic concept: Tom Cruise plays a man who is trained and sent back in time over and over again in a war against an alien foe with Emily Blunt as his trainer. The film showcased Cruise’s acting talent by making him play a much less sympathetic action hero. That, along with originality of the story, makes for an enticing prospect in the sequel.
Per Chitwood’s report, here’s what director Doug Liman had to say.
“I’ve had some radical ideas about how to make a sequel that would interest me, in the same way that I had ideas of how you make an independent film and then Swingers came along and it was like ‘Aha, that’s the perfect movie for me to test these ideas out on.’ I had these intellectual ideas on how you should make a sequel that are unlike how anybody else makes a sequel, and this script and this idea fit perfectly into that idea.”
Not much is known about the sequel prequel other than Cruise seemed pretty thrilled about it. According to a report by MTV.com’s Kase Wickman, this is what Cruise said about a sequel.
“I pitched it to [Edge of Tomorrow screen writer Christopher] McQuarrie and Doug [Liman]. We were there one night and I was like, ‘I’ve got an idea for it.’ … It could be so much fun. Gotta get Emily. I was like, ‘Emily, please.’ She was like, ‘Give me another year, please.’”
With Liman promising to “revolutionize how people make sequels,” Edge of Tomorrow 2 will undoubtedly look to be more than just another dull action sequel. Liman wants to make something special.
