'Den Of Thieves' And 'Angel Has Fallen' Sequels Are Coming To Save Cinema

The movie business is in rough shape right now. Christopher Nolan's Tenet just got pushed back again, this time to mid-August, and we're not even sure if the movie will be able to meet that release date. But fear not, because Hollywood is still set on getting back to work in the near future. And when the cameras start rolling, it sounds like there will be Den of Thieves and Angel Has Fallen sequels, with Gerard Butler waiting to help resurrect cinema with a bang.

Entertainment Weekly recently talked with Gerard Butler in support of the upcoming disaster thriller Greenland (watch the trailer here). Since the movie is directed by stuntman turned filmmaker Ric Roman Waugh, conversation eventually turned to Angel Has Fallen, the most recent sequel in the action franchise that began with Olympus Has Fallen and continued with London Has Fallen. Each movie gives secret service agent Mike Banning a new dangerous threat to thwart and it turns out that a fourth film in the series may be on the way.

Butler said in the interview, "I think with everything going on, we need [Mike Banning]. He needs to come back."

Frankly, I'm not sure Mike Banning is exactly the kind of hero we need right now, especially since London Has Fallen came with a lot of racist connotations that felt straight out of the 1980s. But the other entries delivered more of what we want from Gerard Butler, and if they can come up with an idea that doesn't require him to take out endless terrorists played by people of color in a very xenophobic way, maybe it will be okay. Butler seems to think they have something good, saying, "We're toying away with another really fantastic idea that we're working on at the moment that obviously we can't say too much about."

That's not the only action-packed sequel starring Gerard Butler that we can look forward to. We heard that a Den of Thieves sequel was in the works back in February of 2018, and thankfully, it's still on the way.

Den of Thieves is a heist thriller written and directed by Christian Gudegast that follows Gerard Butler as a tough cop named Big Nick who is determined to put a stop to a string of heists being pulled off by an infamous crew of criminals. It came with a big twist at the end, which naturally teased a sequel (though we won't spoil anything here).

Butler updated the progress of the Den of Thieves sequel, saying, "We're working on that script at the moment, and I'm getting pages daily from Christian." The actor even teased what's in store for the sequel:

"It's a fun ride, spreading across North America into Europe and the diamond district of Marseilles. It's very cool and has a more European vibe this time. All the fun characters, Big Nick, Donnie, and Lobbin' Bob [Jordan Bridges], will be back. And I'm really excited about it."

I think we're all glad that we haven't seen the last of *checks notes* Lobbin' Bob.

Don't forget: if you need your Gerard Butler fix before these two sequels arrive, Greenland is set to hit theaters on August 14. But that's just two days after Tenet is slated to come back to theaters, and we're not even sure if that's gonna happen. So maybe stay tuned to see if Greenland will make it to theaters on schedule.