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While promoting Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise talked about how he pitched an idea for Edge of Tomorrow 2 (or will it be Live. Die. Repeat. 2.?) to director Doug Liman and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie. “I pitched it to McQuarrie and Doug. We were there one night and I was like, I’ve got an idea for it,” said Cruise in an interview with MTV. The actor is also trying to convince Emily Blunt to return to reprise her role as Sergeant Rita Rose Vrataski.
With the disappointing box office performance and the confusing title change during the home entertainment marketing campaign, it’s still unclear if Warner Bros., even wants to move forward with a sequel. But that hasn’t stopped Cruise from expressing his desire to get one into production. Of course pitching an idea is one thing, and saying you did so during an interview doesn’t really hold much weight. But McQuarrie confirms that the idea is real, but as of right now that is all it is. More on the story below.
In an interview with Uproxx, McQuarrie, who also directed Cruise in Jack Reacher, wasn’t exactly “excited” to hear a pitch for Edge of Tomorrow 2:
“Edge of Tomorrow was so hard and was so draining. When we went out to dinner when we were making Mission and Tom said, “˜I have an idea for the sequel to Edge,’ and I said, “˜I don’t want to f***ing hear it. I do not want to know!’ And he pitched the idea to me and he finished pitching it, I was like, “˜Why did you do that?'”
While the idea is there, the director does admit there are some other hurdles to jump before they can get the greenlight:
“It all comes down to Warner Bros. and Doug Liman and Emily Blunt saying yes. The idea is there. At worst, it’s the kernel of an idea – which is, on one hand, great, but on the other hand, I know what a nightmare that is. I know that I’ll be in the void trying to figure that out. And even then when it came out in the press after Tom had mentioned it, right away, there were people on social media saying, “˜Don’t do it, it should never have a sequel, etc., etc.’ And I’m just laughing because I’m like, “˜You guys don’t even know what we are talking about! You have no idea!’ Look, that was one of the best creative teams I’ve ever worked with as far as a team of rivals: Emily is one facet of that; Doug Liman is a completely different and opposing force; Tom Cruise is another. And there I am in the middle, just playing to these three really strong, really smart people.”
The title changes from the theatrical release to the home entertainment one, reveals some of the difficulties of marketing a film like Edge of Tomorrow, and given that the film didn’t met the studio’s box office expectations, it harder to convince WB that a sequel could work. McQuarrie then says:
“If people are talking about your movie on social media the weekend that it opens and telling each other to see the movie, you’re already fucked. It’s not a driver of getting people to go see a quality movie. You need to be building your social-media campaign a year before the movie comes out. The movie that’s doing it really well is Spectre “” Spectre is doing a great job of getting you excited about Bond a full year before Bond is out. That’s how you do a long lead, whet their appetite, cover of magazines and social media to make it an event that people want to see. Edge of Tomorrow didn’t have a presence on social media until the weekend it came out, then people go, “Oh my God, it’s really good” “¦ it was too little, too late. Jack Reacher was difficult thing to sell because it’s that $60 million, not a blockbuster “” it ain’t Whiplash and it ain’t The Avengers.”
I suggest you check out the full interview at Uproxx, it covers some great answers as to why the Mission: Impossible franchise should continue to find new directors for each installment, Valkyrie, Mad Max: Fury Road, and more.
I wasn’t sure what to make of “Edge of Tomorrow” when it was in theaters and that ambivalence resulted in seeing other movies instead. Caught the movie on cable movie channel completely by accident and have to admit that I enjoyed it, even watched it more than once! Too bad the marketing didn’t do the movie justice. Even now, a title search on IMDB for “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Live Die Repeat” points to the same movie. Title change is/was very confusing on WBs part! Although, “Live Die Repeat” kinda sells the idea better than the original title ever did.
Comment by PAUL — August 12, 2015 @ 10:06 am