Is Chronicle 2 Still Happening?

Anime and manga live-action adaptations, especially English-language ones, have a mixed track record. For every "One Piece" and "Speed Racer," which manage to capture the endless imagination of the medium, there are thrice as many "Dragonball Evolution" and "Ghost in the Shell" bad movies that nearly ruin their source material.

One of the best ones is not really based on an anime or manga — though it is quite clear that "Akira" was a huge influence — Josh Trank and Max Landis' "Chronicle." The film is set in Seattle and follows three teens who acquire telekinetic powers. Soon enough, the fun and games turn dark and deadly when one of them begins to lose control and relish in their power. Aside from very direct visual references to Katsuhiro Otomo's iconic (and very influential) anime masterpiece, "Chronicle" manages to capture the quick and chaotic descent into madness and horror that plagues the main character Tetsuo once he gains powers. 

The film was a hit, grossing $126 million on a $15 million budget while helping introduce the world to Dane DeHaan and Michael B. Jordan. That is typically enough of a critical and commercial success to turn any similar movie into a franchise, yet it's been more than a decade and there's been no sequel. So, will there be a "Chronicle 2?" This is what we know.

Despite the positive critical and commercial reception for "Chronicle," the easiest answer to why we haven't got a sequel is mostly because of the people involved. As successful as the movie was, writer Max Landis' follow-up projects were mostly flops — from the disaster that was "Victor Frankenstein" to his failed franchise-starter "Bright" — and it doesn't help that the guy has been accused of some rather horrendous things and turned out to be a big misogynist. 

Then there's director Josh Trank. Despite his future looking mighty promising in the wake of the success of "Chronicle," he followed it up with the disaster that was "Fantastic Four" and then an underwhelming gangster movie buried by the 2020 global lockdown.

What's more, Trank himself has said that he is partially responsible for the sequel never taking off. In an interview with Polygon back in 2020, Trank explained how he thought the sequel script Landis wrote was merely "fine" and how it had "nothing to do with why I wanted to do" the first film. What's more, Trank admitted to actively trying to stall all progress on the sequel. 

"I made it difficult for them to set up meetings. I was dodgy about stuff. I did a lot of sh**ty things," Trank said. "Because I really didn't ever want to see 'Chronicle 2' happen. That was my worst nightmare. First of all, I'm not doing it. Second, if somebody else does it, then you know it's gonna be a piece of sh*t."

There is some hope for "Chronicle 2," however. Back in 2021, producer John Davis who also worked on the first film, said that work on the sequel is underway. "We're working on it at Fox. It's going to give us a chance to tell the story in a different way," Davis said. Given that only one of the three main characters in the first film is alive, it makes sense for the sequel to take a different path. 

"We're going to tell it from the female point of view. It will have been 10 years since the event happened in Seattle, and a lot of it's going to deal with fake news and real news and cover-ups. More interestingly, it's the next generation getting these powers that are corruptive. These are young women just finishing college, they are empowered, and this is their journey. I mean, what a new and interesting story you can tell there." 

This sounds to be a very different take than the original sequel story that Max Landis wrote into a script shortly after the release of the first film and pitched to studios. Titled "Chronicle 2: Martyr," Landis' script focused on two characters, Jack and Miranda, who become obsessed with Matt from the first movie. Eventually, the two disturbed individuals create Iron Man-like combat suits to fight Matt — who becomes a proper superhero in the script.