Director Fede Alvarez surprised the world at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year when, shortly after the world premiere of his Evil Dead remake, he announced that he was already starting to develop a sequel. Now, however, a little less than seven months later, it appears that project has hit some serious speed bumps. Speaking with DesdeHollywood, screenwriter Rodo Sayagues - who co-wrote Evil Dead with Alvarez - has revealed that he and the director are no longer attached to the follow-up... and haven't been for quite some time now. Said Sayagues,
“Look, I am sorry to tell you this but that movie won’t happen. Evil Dead 2 is not going to happen, at least not with us involved. We left that project many months ago because we preferred to put our energies on other things. I don’t know if the producers still have intentions of making it. But what I can tell you is that we are not part of that project.”
While it's far from unusual for filmmakers to drop out of a project (we hear reports about it just about every week), what makes this news extra surprising is just how successful Evil Dead was when it came out in early April. Made for a very tiny $17 million, the film wound up pulling in $25 million in its first weekend domestically, and by the end of its run internationally it made nearly $100 million. One would think that Screen Gems, the studio behind the first movie, would have done everything they could to keep Alvarez and Sayagues on board, but it would seem those efforts didn't pan out.
It may be a while before we get to see a sequel to the most recent Evil Dead movie, but the good news is that the franchise may live on with a project of a different variety. In March, director Sam Raimi (who helmed the first three Evil Dead movies) said that he was going to be working with his brother Ivan Raimi on a script for Army of Darkness 2, a sequel to the 1992 cult classic, and just a few days ago Alvarez revealed that Raimi is planning to direct. Of course, this "promise" has been floating around for years, so who knows if it will actually turn into anything.
So here is the ultimate question: would you prefer to see a sequel to this year's Evil Dead or an Army of Darkness 2? Answer our poll below and tell us what you're thinking in the comments section!
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