Although 2004’s National Treasure and its 2007 sequel, starring Nicolas Cage as a treasure hunter, combined earned more than $800 million, Disney has never follow through with plans for a third film. Franchise director Jon Turteltaub thinks he knows why that is.
While promoting his upcoming film The Meg, Turteltaub was asked why we’ve yet to see National Treasure 3. His explanation is relatively straightforward: The studio thinks there are other franchises that can make more money.
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“When National Treasure first got made, there was a lot more money to go around,” he told Collider. “Everybody got paid nicely. The problem with getting the third one made isn’t the people who are getting paid saying, ‘I’m not doing it unless you pay me a lot!’ It’s really that Disney feels they have other films they want to make that they think will make them more money. I think they’re wrong. I think they’re right about the movies they’re making; they’re obviously doing a really good job at making great films. I just think this would be one of them, and they don’t quite realize how much the internet is begging for a third National Treasure. The script was close, but not so great that the studio couldn’t say yes. But it’s been good enough that the studio could have said, ‘Yes, keep going. Get closer.’ Jerry Bruckheimer is the master of taking something that’s good enough and turning it into something great in about an hour and a half. It’s a little nerve-wracking, but it works.”
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Disney is having stellar year at the box office, with the three highest-grossing films of 2018 –Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther and Incredibles 2.
Arriving Aug. 10, The Meg stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, Jessica McNamee, Masi Oka and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson.