Genre: Action/Thriller/Sequel.
Studio:
Columbia Pictures.
Production Company:
Unknown.
Project Phase: Movies Rumored.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Unknown.
Premise: When a group of terrorists seize the White House the President hides and eventually strikes back from a secret labrynth of tunnels underneath the building.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Supposedly a sequel to 1997's Air Force One. See Scoop Feedback for more.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
December 27, 1998... This email landed in CA's Inbox earlier this month. We have no means to confirm if the idea has been tossed around Columbia, but considering the financial success of Air Force One, it could be the studio is seeking to create its own 'Presidential Die Hard' franchise.
Here's what our scooper had to say:
"Heard that Tri-Star Pictures wants to make a sequel to their 1997 smash hit AIR FORCE ONE. This time taking the action from the air to the president's home, the white house. Andrew W. Marlowe, writer of Air Force One says the white house has (or better yet is rumored) to have many secret rooms tunnels, weapon areas even a rumored area where a team of soilders waits in defense. It's the perfect place to put the action. Tri-Star supposedlly will only make the film on a very tight budget which means if Harisson Ford is going to retake his role as commander in chief he'll have to take a major pay cut. Also, count out Wolfgang Peterson for directing, it seems once was enough and that the director's chair is being handed down to Brett Ratner who directed this year's hit RUSH HOUR. So who would replace Ford. Marlow says the front runner is Batman himself Michael Keaton (hey, I laughed when they said he would be Batman)." [Sent in by Brian.]
Hmm. OK, so we remain open to the possibility that somewhere inside Columbia, someone is developing a possible sequel to Air Force One. But even though Ford's salary remains stratospheric ($20 mil +), we really doubt that Columbia would consider asking Ford if he's be up for a pay cut. Ford has the luxury of choosing when he wants to work, and when he does work he gets paid top dollar. Unless Columbia were considering factoring in a percentage of the profits as part of the deal, we doubt that this is a valid option. That part of Brian's scoop remains the only part that makes un question if we're getting our collective legs pulled by a hoaxer. Perhaps Brian or someone else would like to send us some more info about this one...then we can legitimize it.
January 7, 1999... Hmm. We've been told that while this script was optioned a number of months back for a mid-six figure front-end payout (Hollywood-ese for "the writer got paid around $500K and won't make anything else if it gets made into a movie"), it was not optioned at the time as a sequel to Air Force One. But what could be happening now is that the original script is either being considered or is being transformed into a potential sequel to AFO. It's happened before: the original script Tears of the Sun was later (and still is) considered for the fourth Die Hard film. Hey, while we're at it, Jonathan Hensleigh's script Simple Simon later became the basis for Simon Gruber and his 'revenge' in Die Hard With a Vengence. Is that what Columbia is doing? Maybe. Maybe not. [Thanks to 'ScreenWriter1138' for helping shine some light on this.]
And here's a fun one we couldn't resist showing to you in case someone inside Columbia with some pull is reading these words: "If Corona has connections to movie makings, here is a suggestion: The terrorist boss stands at one of the entranceways to the white house. The president, holding a rocket launcher says, 'Get out of my house!' Then launches the rocket." [Anonymous.]