The article on the site that gets the most traffic and comments is the one focusing on Guy Ritchie's
The Real RockNRolla. It's been promised ever since the original theatrical release of RockNRolla and it was even teased in the credits. Since then Guy Ritchie has been focused on many other projects. I'm going to run down what those movies are and the prospects of when we could expect Ritchie to start production on the RockNRolla sequel.
When it comes to Ritchie's current project he is shooting Sherlock Holmes 2 with Robert Downey Jr. The now established franchise is giving Guy more commercial success than he's ever had before. I expect like with other dedicated Warner Bros. directors (Nolan, Snyder) he will be rewarded with financing for his original projects. The only setback is that he might want to round out a Holmes trilogy before jumping into anything else. I wouldn't be shocked to see
Sherlock Holmes 3 his next film.
Guy's previously attached projects could also become a hold up on The Real RockNRolla. He's been in talks with producer Joel Silver to helm both
Lobo and
Sgt. Rock which are based on the DC comics.
The studio had filmed test shots for Lobo with Jeffery Dean Morgan (Watchmen) and possibly Clancy Brown (Highlander, Starship Troopers). Sgt. Rock is also in development hell and is being re-tool from being set during WWII to the future. I'm not sure if the productions stopped because of Holmes 2 or the fact the characters were taken from Silver by DC Entertainment.
Ritchie has also been attached to direct remakes of the
Dirty Dozen and
Excalibur for the studio. From what I understand Dozen got the axe because of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. I'm sure it will eventually happen but needs time between the Tarantino film.
Excalibur was once part of Bryan Singer's long list of projects in the works. He's been focused on Jack The Giant Killer which made opt out on directing X-Men First Class. Giving Matthew Vaughn the chance to finally show us his version of the X-Men universe. It would be interesting to see Ritchie take on the world of fantasy.
Another dreaded obstacle could be Ritchie signing onto new projects. Mark Millar teased that Ritchie along with Sam Raimi had been interested in making a movie based on his comic
Nemesis. The project now has Tony Scott in the director's chair setup at 20th Century Fox. It's not surprising to see his name involved with Millar's projects since Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn is a friend and producer of Guy's films. Vaughn helped produce Lock Stock, Snatch and Swept Away. Millar is now teasing that his new comic
Superior will become a film. Superior is a mix of iconic comic book mythology taking influences from Superman, Thor and Shazam!. The comic writer says the director would be announced in January. There is a possibility Guy Ritchie very well could be this name.
A very doubtful but still possible project could be
Iron Man 3. It's unlikely because of Guy's current relationship with both DC and Warner Bros. Yet Robert Downey Jr. has director approval and could choose someone he's worked with before.
There could also be other unnamed projects which come up and he signs on. My expectations is that while The Real RockNRolla script is more than likely completed Guy could focus more on his high profile projects first. I wouldn't assume to see it go into production until 2012-2013 at the earliest. While there is enough of a demand from fans of the original he is sort of moving forward with different types of films. You can't blame him for wanting to expand his genres and can respect wanting to try different things.
