The new Shaft may just be hitting theaters this week, but there’s already talk of a sequel. Can ya dig it?
The film is the fifth big screen outing for the ultra-cool detective, following Richard Roundtree’s trilogy of Blaxploitation outings in the ’70s and the Samuel L. Jackson-starring sequel/semi-reboot from 2000. The newest version, also a sequel, retcons the relationship between Roundtree’s original John Shaft and Jackson’s younger John Shaft, making them father and son rather than uncle and nephew like they were in 2000’s Shaft. The new film also adds a third John Shaft, played by Jessie Usher, who is the son of Jackson’s character and grandson of Roundtree’s. Boy, when did Shaft get so confusing?
Whatever the current state of Shaft‘s family dynamics, current Shaft director Tim Story likes the direction the franchise is heading — and he’s already expressed plans to bring all three Shafts back for another sequel. “I’d bring everybody back,” Story said at the film’s press day, according to CinemaBlend. “I think, what was great at the end of this movie was you saw (the) family come together. And when you see that, I don’t see how you could do anything [other] than bring everybody back, and let everybody have a gun, and, you know, let the Shafts happen.”
Of course, whether or not this Shaft earns a sequel will no doubt hinge on how well it performs at the box office. Shaft is an old property, and if the plethora of unflattering reviews for the newest incarnation are to be believed, it’s also an outdated one. So if audiences don’t show up to theaters to see the man who would risk his neck for his brother, then Story may not get the chance to bring anybody back for a sequel.
