Fede Alvarez is getting his first shot at a studio blockbuster later this month with the release of Sony’s “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” starring Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander, but the director’s roots are in horror thanks to his cult classic efforts “Evil Dead” and “Dont Breathe.” Both movies starred Jane Levy and became beloved titles in the horror genre, and both have left fans clamoring for sequels.
Not long ago, Alvarez asked his Twitter followers which sequel they would like to see made first: “Don’t Breathe 2” or “Evil Dead 2”? While some took that to mean Alvarez was in the early planning stages on both, the filmmaker was merely just gauging the fan reactions to each title. “Evil Dead 2” won by a wide margin, hardly a surprise given the franchise’s fan base dates back to Sam Raimi’s 1981 original.
“I’ve learned to shut my mouth when it comes to these things,” Alavarez recently told MovieWeb when asked for updates on the sequels. “We just never want to play with anyone’s expectations. When I tweeted that I was interested in seeing what people prefer. We were having some internal debates about what people would be interested in most. Unfortunately, ‘Evil Dead 2’ won. Which, I guess I would have preferred ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ to win because it’s one of my own creations. Obviously, ‘Evil Dead’ has the bigger following. So that’s what happened.”
Alvarez said he has nothing to announce in terms of whether or not “Evil Dead 2” or “Don’t Breathe 2” will actually happen one day, but he did reveal that there is at least a script for the latter, which puts its significantly ahead of any development on the former.
“We do have a script for ‘Don’t Breathe 2.’ That’s the only difference,” Alvarez said. “We don’t have a script for ‘Evil Dead 2.’ But we do have a script for ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ that we wrote. Once I’m done with [‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’] we’re gonna start thinking of ways to bring that story to the screen. Me directing or me producing. It really depends on the time that we’ll have. I’m particularly excited about that because it’s a really different sequel, when it comes to sequels. It’s a very different approach and I’m excited about that.”
Whether Alvarez heads behind the camera or not (and that might have something to do with whether or not “Spider’s Web” gets a sequel), it appears “Don’t Breathe 2” will become an actual movie before “Evil Dead 2.” Screen Gems released “Don’t Breathe” in August 2016 and it became a horror blockbuster, earning over $150 million worldwide opposite a budget just under $10 million. The film centered around a group of kids who try to rob a blind man, only to realize he can’t easily be fooled. Alvarez’s “Evil Dead” opened in April 2013
“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” opens in theaters nationwide November 9.
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