'National Treasure 3' Is Apparently Happening, 'Bad Boys For Life' Screenwriter Penning Script

Are we actually getting National Treasure 3 sometime soon? Maybe! A new report indicates that Bad Boys for Life co-writer Chris Bremner is writing the script for the third entry in the Nicolas Cage adventure series, which will presumably send Cage's Benjamin Gates on yet another silly-yet-entertaining historically inaccurate adventure. National Treasure 3 has been a possibility for several years now, but the project has stalled out multiple times. But now it looks like the third film might be happening after all.

Buried at the bottom of a story about Bad Boys 4, THR reports that Chris Bremner is writing National Treasure 3 for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. This news is a bit of a surprise, because it seemed like National Treasure 3 was dead. In 2008, Bruckheimer confirmed a third film was happening. By 2010, Bruckheimer offered an update stating the first draft of the script was done.

But by 2012, star Nicolas Cage was quoted as saying, "I have not heard any news about a third one at this time." And come 2016, Disney CEO Bob Iger seemed to throw cold water on the entire idea, stating: "We have done two, and yes they were really fine movies. I know Jerry Bruckheimer who produced them has had conversations with our studio a number of times about it, and there have been some developments along the way, but as of right now we have not green-lit as we say, a National Treasure 3."

Bruckheimer doubled-down in 2017, proclaiming that a script was done, but Disney wasn't happy with it. Come 2018, franchise director Jon Turteltaub told /Film: "I would make it tomorrow. Finding the right script is hard. It was brutal for the first two. It's still gonna be brutal for the third. But I don't think Disney wants to make it. And I think they have other things they wanna make more..." Turteltaub also added he wouldn't be surprised if Disney ended up rebooting the series for Disney+.

But now here we are again! With word that a new script is being written. So lock up the Declaration of Independence, folks. Ben Gates is coming back.