With the money the second one made, there’s little doubt that Disney is planning a National Treasure 3. The question is where else can they take it? How many times can Ben Gate’s family be coincidentally involved in the pivotal events of history before the whole thing gets a bit ridiculous?
That problem may be solved in the third movie by ditching the “national” part of National Treasure and taking the gang outside the country to hunt for other lost treasures. That’s already been hinted at by Nic Cage, who several months ago said he wanted the next movie to be more international. Now the guys over at Jim Hill claim to have the scoop on what exactly Gates will be hunting next. Their guess? Atlantis.
They claim there’s already a brief plot synopsis for the sequel floating around at Disney. In it the Gates family goes to Easter Island to hunt for Atlantis and the perfect, clean, power source which was supposed to have powered the legendary sunken city. Their goal is to use it to end global warming, which would mean Disney could preach to us about reducing our carbon emissions while at the same time throwing Nic Cage off a cliff.
To me, the whole fun of National Treasure has always been the way it explores American history and makes it come alive. If that’s what they’re doing, then they’re totally abandoning that. Not only are they ditching the notion of looking for lost American treasures, they’re tossing history overboard as well in favor of hunting down fairytales, myths, and fantasy. A more logical move would be to send them after the Fountain of Youth. It’s still Fantasy but at least it keeps them involved in America and American history. I’d love to see Ben Gates on the trail of Ponce de Leon. But as we told you in our exclusive scoop back in June of last year, that’s probably the subject of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. As the Jim Hill guys point out, Disney probably won’t want to double up on the search for eternal life. Maybe they should switch them. Jack Sparrow and his wacky, over-CGI’d fantasy world is a much better fit with the lost city of Atlantis.
