14 DAY TRIAL // The world is coming to a (more or less visually enthralling) end in director Roland Emmerich’s latest film, the much-hyped “2012,” which will see a wide release on November 13. Yet all is not lost, at least not for producers and the movie studio, as they still have a way to make a sequel to it, by turning a follow-up film into a straight-to-TV one-hour drama, Entertainment Weekly says in a recent report cited by MovieWeb.
Director Roland Emmerich is apparently already hard at work on said sequel, looking to get producer Mark Gordon to oversee it. Gordon is also the man behind hit series such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice,” so, if this project really does come to happen, chances are it will be good, insiders vouch. Moreover, ABC is reportedly the network that will carry the doomsday drama, but confirmation on all of the above is still pending.
“‘The plan is that it is 2013 and it’s about what happens after the disaster,’ Emmerich told EW while walking the red carpet for the 2012 premiere Tuesday. ‘It is about the resettling of Earth. That is very, very fascinating. (2012 writer/producer) Harold Kloser and I came up with the idea and we have the luxury of having a producer on the film who is a big TV producer, Mark Gordon’.” the aforementioned EW report says.
Moreover, it seems Emmerich has already thought of possible ways to develop the script for the sequel. “‘We said to Mark, ‘Why don’t you do a TV show that picks up where the movie leaves off and call it 2013?’ I think it will focus on a group of people who survived but not on the boats... maybe they were on a piece of land that was spared or one that became an island in the process of the crust moving. There are so many possibilities of what they could do and I’d be excited to watch it’.” he told EW, as cited by MovieWeb.
A sequel for the film would, of course, ensure that profit off it is increased, but there could be more to this decision than just that, some are speculating. Apparently, despite the impressive budget that went into making “2012,” the movie will turn out to be a disappointment in terms of sales, some early reviews claim, so it could very well be that this is a ploy of milking the film for all it’s got – and then some. As noted above, official confirmation for the sequel is still pending, so make sure you stay tuned here for updates.