2016 was a movie year to remember. La La Land took the world by storm, Deadpool was a massive hit and Moana is still considered one of Disney’s most rewatchable animated favorites. There were also some surprising sleeper hits that grew an viewers over time. One of these was The Accountant, a Ben Affleck-led action thriller about a mathematics savant who secretly does accounting for criminal organizations. With the quiet success of the film, murmurings of a sequel started to emerge a year later. Now, it seems like The Accountant 2 is happening (and soon). With that, J.K. Simmons is opening up about getting the movie made with Affleck and co., and I'm pumped!
Rumors of a sequel emerged in 2017 and, by 2021, it was reported that development was moving forward with Jon Bernthal. Now, there are clearer signs that work is underway. Recently, Ben Affleck shaved his beard in preparation to play Christian Wolff again. That alone was enough to get any fans hyped and indicate that production would start imminently. J.K. Simmons, who is also set to reprise his role as Ray King in The Accountant 2, seemed to confirm those rumblings. He told Collider:
I head to LA in a little over a week to do some rehearsals and pre-production, and start shooting my chunk of it. I'm not even sure if they start shooting… I think they start early next week because then I'm in the week after doing my supporting thing. But there was a plan for a possible sequel at the very beginning. I mean, not a plan plan, not like a story, but that was always a possibility. Thanks to Gavin O'Connor and Ben Affleck for really being determined to make it happen, because, as I'm sure you know, that movie did well in theaters, but then it's had a really, really popular resurgence in the last few years in streaming.
The original movie did well in theaters, becoming a surprise 2016 hit and raking in $155.2 million worldwide against a $44 million dollar budget. The film surprised even more as it was the most rented movie of 2017 and has consistently performed well on streaming since then. These stats alone seemed to be enough to warrant a sequel, yet the journey to get the movie off the ground was no walk in the park. J.K. Simmons credited director Gavin O’Connor and Ben Affleck for finally moving the project forward and making sure that fans get to see these characters on the big screen once again. He said:
It's just such great characters and such a great story that I'm glad they worked their butts off, and now are with a different studio finally making it work. A lot of us are going to be back, and I’m really, really looking forward to my contribution to that, and to the movie itself. Bill Dubuque, again, did the script, with Gavin obviously, and Ben’s input. Same with Invincible, obviously it's a team game. But those three guys particularly have really been behind this for seven, eight years now, and finally it's coming to fruition, and I'm really excited about it.
It’s been a while since The Accountant was released, but fans should still be excited for what the follow up film has to offer. Most of the main cast is back, except for Anna Kendrick, who is not set to return. The logline for the sequel states that The Accountant 2 will follow Affleck’s Christian Wolff, who is tasked with solving the murder of the boss of Marybeth Medina, who is played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson. The Medina character shared a number of scenes with J.K. Simmon’s Ray King in the first movie, and I can’t wait to find out how he fits into this highly anticipated sequel! Simmons always brings it in supporting roles so, hopefully, this is no exception.
Meanwhile, the leading man is a busy actor, as there a number of upcoming projects starring Ben Affleck that are also in the works. Thankfully, he was able to make time for the action flick and put production in motion by securing the rights to the franchise through his production company Artists Equity.
J.K. Simmons wasn’t exaggerating when he said his co-star put in the work to get the film made, despite it being an uphill battle. With the former Batman actor securing the rights under his company, this also means there is a potential threequel if the success of this latest installment mirrors that of the original. For the sake of action fans everywhere, fingers crossed!
Filming is underway, but fans still have to wait until we get an official release date for The Accountant 2. In the meantime, you can check out Ben Affleck and J.K. Simmons in its 2016 predecessor, which is now streaming for Netflix subscribers. Also, for more information on other films heading to theaters and streaming in the near future, make sure to consult our 2024 movie release schedule.
