The Ghost Rider sequel is moving forward, but it may not be with Nicolas Cage. New York Magazine’s Vulture section states that to retain the rights to Ghost Rider, Columbia may need to be in production by November 14, 2010. If Columbia can gain an extension from Marvel, then Cage could still be involved. If not, it’s possible that the upcoming National Treasure 3 could conflict with his ability to accept Ghost Rider as the release date for that film is set for 2011.
In a recent interview at WonderCon 2010, when asked about the sequel’s status, he shared not only his positive feelings about the first film, but also gave some ideas about where he thought they were heading with story wise. He didn’t rule out his involvement, and given the fact that he is a big comic fan (his stage name alone gives him geek cred), I would conjecture that if he can be involved he will be.
The flip side is that National Treasure is a big franchise. The last two films made close to $804,876,918 on foreign and domestic box office receipts, and Ghost Rider only made in the neighborhood of $228,738,393. If it comes down to a bidding war he could conceivably make a better pay day from National Treasure if he is forced to choose based upon the timing of shooting either film. Given how hot comic properties are right now, a delay could mean we either see another Johnny Blaze, or another version entirely with perhaps Danny Ketch. Time will tell.
Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Imageworks
