Josh Brolin Is Worried There Will Never Be A Sicario 3, And Now So Are We

It's been five years since "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" came out, meaning that the franchise about the brutal world of fighting drug cartels has been dormant for half a decade. Josh Brolin still wants a third entry to see the light of day, although the actor seems to strongly doubt whether or not it will happen, given the way the movie business currently operates.

The "Goonies" and "Dune" actor recently spoke with Variety in an interview that covered quite a bit of his career. At one point, he was asked about how he manages to find a lot of the filmmakers he works with, such as Denis Villeneuve on the first "Sicario" back in 2015. Brolin explained that they have been trying to get "Sicario 3" off the ground for some time, but the clock is ticking and times have changed:

"These people that I got to work with aren't necessarily doing a lot of films now. All these people that you're talking about, Paul Thomas Anderson, it's tough for him to do a film. Paul's become a really close friend, and I loved working with him on 'Inherent Vice.' I can't wait to see what he does next. But I think he knows that these types of movies are not necessarily getting made so much anymore, $20 to 45 million dollar movies. Would 'No Country [for Old Men] get made today? Would 'True Grit' get made today? Would 'Sicario' get made today? 'Sicario 3,' we've been trying to get that right and get that going, but why hasn't it happened? How long can you wait? A tough movie to get made even though the two made money, and people are asking about it all the time."

To Josh Brolin's point about the money, "Sicario" earned $84 million at the global box office against a reported $30 million budget. That was enough to get "Day of the Soldado" made, which pulled in a slightly-less-great $76 million against a reported $35 million budget. It's also worth noting that the sequel was not as roundly acclaimed as its predecessor. Those are not bad returns for a mid-budget film, however, as other revenue streams such as Blu-ray sales and cable rights probably helped them turn a profit.

The unfortunate thing is that the pandemic upended many of Hollywood's plans when it hit in 2020. Because of that, it took a while for studios to get back on track. Now, we've had a five-year gap, and not only are mid-budget movies a tougher sell for studios in some cases, but a sequel to a middling pre-pandemic success feels like an exceptionally difficult sales pitch. Given the length of time, it's hard to imagine that this sequel will ever get made.

For what it's worth, Brolin said last year that they've "written" and "rewritten" a script for the third film, so a story is out there. Even so, it just doesn't feel like the sort of thing that Sony is going to pull the trigger on anytime soon. Frankly, "Sicario 3" might make more sense as a low-budget, direct-to-video play now, sort of like that recent "R.I.P.D." sequel that seemingly nobody asked for. But DTV is likely not something anyone involved in the "Scicario" franchise would be interested in doing. Given that, perhaps it's best just to let it die, disappointing as that may be.