Murder Mystery ended up having the biggest opening weekend ever for a Netflix Film. It introduced two characters who could easily return for more stories in NYC police officer Nick Spitz (Adam Sandler) and hairdresser/mystery novel lover Audrey Spitz (Jennifer Aniston). So the idea of a sequel makes sense, and director Kyle Newacheck told CinemaBlend he's all for it -- provided the stars are ready to return:
There's been some rumblings, I think it's ultimately if Adam wants to do it and Jen wants to do it. I haven't dug in deep with either of them on this idea yet. But it's a great idea. It really is. Nick and Audrey are two fantastic characters with an amazing dynamic that obviously people like to watch. So I feel like they can be in another movie and it would be amazing. So I hope, I hope. Maybe this is the official word: Adam and Jen, let's make another movie!
The world has more mysteries to solve! Director Kyle Newacheck came to Murder Mystery after graduating from The Los Angeles Film School and co-creating the Comedy Central show Workaholics. He directed Game Over, Man! at Netflix in 2018, and was contacted by Netflix during the streamer's search for a director to make Murder Mystery. Newacheck loved the script by James Vanderbilt, and was excited to work with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, who were already attached at that point.
Kyle Newacheck wasn't surprised that millions of people wanted to watch Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. But a record 31 million accounts reportedly watching in the first three days? He said he couldn't help but try and imagine what that might have meant at the box office, but said it's also "a sign of the rapidly growing and mutating industry that is Hollywood."
I knew it was going to be big because I know everybody watches Sandler movies and everybody loves Jennifer, and with the Friends resurgence on Netflix, the timing just couldn't have been better for the two for them to be together on the movie. But I didn't know it was going to be bigger than any other movie on Netflix. It's quite a patch on the sleeve.
When something is successful, it's natural to talk about sequels. With Murder Mystery, the ending on The Orient Express train already seemed to set up a continuation. Kyle Newacheck said that sequel hint was actually stronger in a previous version of the story.
I mean, I was talking about a sequel on set, you know? We even had an alternate ending where we do throw to a sequel. Because I think we do know we could make another one. I would love to. I would love to. If we start working on a script, I'm in. I think it would be really fun, it'd be another way to travel the world, check out another part of the world and go make a film there.
The director revealed the alternate ending took one last turn -- Nick and Audrey were sitting there on the train and you hear a gunshot, and they get up to go check it out. He said it ultimately felt stronger when they were testing it with audiences when they just wrapped on the happy couple.
Because, in a world filled with universes and giant IPs, it actually feels good to just have a standalone original movie with a nice happy punctuation mark on the end of it.
That said....
I would love to go do a sequel. I totally would do it in a heartbeat, I would be there.
Kyle Newacheck added screenwriter James Vanderbilt has been thinking about how a sequel might work.
There's only a select amount of characters that are still alive, and we would want to use those characters while developing new ones. It's all in early, early phase of development, if you can call it that.
Adam Sandler's Nick Spitz and Jennifer Aniston's Audrey Spitz would be obvious returnees, and to me it would be great to bring back smoke ring maestro Dany Boon as Inspector Laurent Delacroix.
Kyle Newacheck said there were several jokes in the moment that were improvised, "because you've got to do what's funny then and there." No spoilers here, but one joke that he said made him chuckle was from a scene in the hotel where a big spoilery event happens and Jennifer Aniston's Audrey quips, "Should we call housekeeping"? Newacheck said he loves that line, 'cause it's so real, and Aniston made that up.
I can't wait to work with either of them [Aniston and Sandler] again. The whole cast was amazing. But Jen and Adam -- what a dream, you know? They were really good. For an improv director like myself, it was great, 'cause they like to improv, so it was perfect.
Will Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston want to return for Murder Mystery 2? Sandler keeps renewing his Happy Madison Productions deal with Netflix, with a star-studded Halloween movie seeming to be next. But after that, who knows? Jennifer Aniston said she only signed on for Murder Mystery to work with Sandler again, but would she want to bring Audrey back for another mystery? Aniston has The Morning Show coming this fall to Apple TV+, so it may be a while before we hear anything about a possible return to Netflix.
For now, fans can stream Murder Mystery now on Netflix.
