EXCLUSIVE: They are thick as thieves and coming together for yet another heist: Gerard Butler, Tucker Tooley, Mark Canton, Alan Siegel, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and director Christian Gudegast with O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (who is in negotiations) have pacted to return for a sequel to the heist thriller Den of Thieves. The project, which will be distributed by STX worldwide and financed by Diamond Film Productions, is being written by Gudegast from an original idea.
Den of Thieves 2, which will also be directed again by Gudegast, will find Big Nick (Butler) on the hunt in the streets of Europe closing in on Donnie (Jackson Jr.) who is embroiled in the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s biggest diamond exchange.
Canton and Tooley will produce the sequel with Butler and Siegel’s production company G-BASE. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will produce through his production company G-Unit Film & Television, Inc.
The original Den of Thieves over-performed at the box office when it was released last month. The film, which took Tooley and Canton about 15 years to bring to the screen, has yet to finish out its international run (it has about 35 markets yet to go). Worldwide, the film has grossed $57M so far.
The original cost around $30M before P&A with an $25M+ P&A backstopped by Diamond Films which also provided gap financing. Roughly 60% of the budget was covered by pre-sales and a tax incentive brought it to roughly 70%.
There is plenty of audience growth which was made evident by the release of the first film and the exit polling which showed equal interest from all male audience quads.
For STX, the first film set a new milestone for STX in the U.K. market last weekend when it became the first of the company’s films to open bigger than £1M.
Gudegast is repped by WME, Management 360, and Patrick Knapp; Tooley is repped by WME and Patrick Knapp. Diamond Film Productions is repped by Glenn D. Feig of Reder & Feig LLP. Butler is repped by CAA and Alan Siegel Entertainment and Jackson Jr. is by WME. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson & G-Unit Film & Television Inc. are repped by APA and attorneys Stephen J. Savva and Eric Feig.