Fans of the National Treasure franchise have been left in limbo since the cliffhanger ending of the 2007 sequel, Book Of Secrets. But they may finally get some closure.
In a recent report on Sony developing Bad Boys 4, THR also casually mentioned that screenwriter Chris Bremner has been tapped to pen National Treasure 3, with Jerry Bruckheimer back on board to produce.
This is the first real National Treasure news for what seems like forever. The franchise began in 2004 with a film directed by Jon Turteltaub, starring Nicolas Cage as a historian who discovers a lead to a secret treasure hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence.
The film was a hit and had a chance to be a new generation’s Indiana Jones. The 2007 sequel followed and a third movie was pretty much assured. However, Cage and Turteltaub went off and made The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as a palette cleanser, but the film bombed. That dented Disney’s trust in the profitability of a third National Treasure film, and the threequel never saw the light of day.
Whispers of a third movie have of course persisted ever since, but nothing concrete has ever materialised. It’s hard to say whether this news is finally the assurance National Treasure fans were hoping for considering it was essentially buried in an article about another movie. Still, there’s hope!
In a 2018 interview, Turteltaub simply said about a potential third film: “Disney feels they have other films they want to make that they think will make them more money”. Which, unfortunately, makes sense. However, Cage is on a bit of a comeback tour and the first two National Treasure movies are being rediscovered. Everything else is getting a belated sequel, why not this?
We’ll wait and see if this news leads to the third movie finally coming together. Bruckheimer has always been good at pushing projects past the finish line. Can he do the same with this one?
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