Thema: Live Die Repeat and Repeat (Edge of Tomorrow 2)

[nemesis]

Tadaa, ein Sequel:

Those who actually saw Edge of Tomorrow in theaters have been clamoring for a sequel since June 2014, while those who caught up with the sorely underrated sci-fi thriller on home video/cable have been eager to see a follow-up for slightly less time. Regardless, anyone who saw Edge of Tomorrow knows that stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, director Doug Liman, and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie hit upon something unique and thrilling with that entertaining-as-all-get-out film, and should that creative team decide to reunite for Edge of Tomorrow 2, it would be a sight to behold. Cruise reportedly hit upon a solid idea for the sequel that has Blunt, McQuarrie, and Liman excited about a follow-up, and while the film doesn’t exactly have a timetable or a release date, we do now have a title.

Collider’s own Christina Radish recently spoke with Liman in anticipation of his upcoming film The Wall, and during their discussion she asked if he’s still looking to make Edge of Tomorrow 2. The filmmaker remains enthused about the sequel, revealing not only that Blunt is onboard but also the follow-up’s curious title:

“We have an amazing story! It’s incredible! Way better than the first film, and I obviously loved the first film. It will be called Live Die Repeat and Repeat. Tom [Cruise] is excited about it, and Emily Blunt is excited about it. The big question is just when we’ll do it. But it’s not an if, it’s a when.”

Live Die Repeat and Repeat should sound familiar to those who followed the title drama of the first film. It was originally called All You Need Is Kill, the same title as its source material. Warner Bros. switched it to Edge of Tomorrow for the film’s release, but as the home video rollout began, the title Live. Die. Repeat. was emblazoned on every Blu-ray and VOD cover. So it sounds like Liman and Co. preferred the home video title to the theatrical one, which admittedly didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

As for that story that Liman’s so excited about, he previously told us that the film is actually a sequel that’s a prequel, noting his intention to upend how people look at sequels in the first place:

“I’ve had some radical ideas about how to make a sequel that would interest me, in the same way that I had ideas of how you make an independent film and then Swingers came along and it was like ‘Aha, that’s the perfect movie for me to test these ideas out on.’ I had these intellectual ideas on how you should make a sequel that are unlike how anybody else makes a sequel, and this script and this idea fit perfectly into that idea. So it’s gonna revolutionize how people make sequels. And again that’s why I try to do things like Invisible that are just, the revolution’s sort of built into the idea. It’s more heresy in the film world for me to pitch things that are sort of unheard of.”

It’s exciting to hear Liman so confident that Edge of Tomorrow 2 will actually happen in these more recent comments. All involved are busy people—Cruise is currently shooting Mission: Impossible 6 with McQuarrie directing, and Blunt is filming Disney’s sequel Mary Poppins Returns. Liman, meanwhile, is attached to helm the DC Comics adaptation Justice League Dark for Warner Bros., so now it sounds like it’s going to be about aligning all of the schedules of those involved. Given that McQuarrie will be tied up on Mission: Impossible 6 post-production until next summer, it’s unclear if he won’t start writing the script until then or if he’s already been tinkering with it. So it may be a few years before Live Die Repeat and Repeat comes to pass, but it’ll surely have been worth the wait.

[Max_Cherry]

Ich fand den ersten erstaunlich gut, aber eine Fortsetzung kann ich mir hier nicht vorstellen.

[nemesis]

Das Sequel soll gleichzeitig ein Prequel werden. Hmhmmm...

Tom Cruise is a consistently reliable performer, and the prospect of the actor teaming up with Emily Blunt and filmmaker Doug Liman on a sci-fi film was certainly promising, but Edge of Tomorrow was that rare film that exceeded expectations. The time travel twisting made the narrative compelling, Cruise playing a coward was a terrific subversion of expectations, and Blunt’s character having a full, deep arc was tremendously fulfilling. Moreover, Liman crafted some fantastic-looking sci-fi action, and somehow found a way to keep the film feeling fresh even though it kept showing the audience the same events over and over again.

The movie was a sizable hit for Warner Bros.—$370.5 million worldwide—but buoyed by critical raves and a strong showing on home video, clamoring for a sequel has grown louder and louder. We learned earlier this year that Edge of Tomorrow 2 was officially in development, with screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie involved, Liman directing, and Cruise and Blunt returning, so when Collider’s own Steve Weintrub recently spoke with Liman in anticipation of his scripted supernatural VR series Invisible, the conversation naturally turned to an update on Edge of Tomorrow 2.

“That is the only sequel that I’m considering doing, and it’s because first of all the story is so amazing—much better than the original film, and I loved and loved the original film—and second of all, it’s a sequel that’s a prequel.”

That is a very interesting idea, and one that works incredibly well with Edge of Tomorrow since the whole story conceit revolved around time travel. Moreover, at the end of Edge of Tomorrow, we saw that Cruise’s character had successfully reset the loop and defeated the alien threat, with the film ending at the point where the story originally began. So by “sequel that’s a prequel”, does that mean we’re going to be seeing the events of the same day play out in a wildly different manner, or will we be going back even further than that starting point?

It’s unclear at this juncture, but Liman certainly sounds enthused by the idea of making a sequel that’s unique from every other kind of sequel, and the Bourne Identity filmmaker revealed that it actually allows him to express ideas about sequels he’s had for some time:

“I’ve had some radical ideas about how to make a sequel that would interest me, in the same way that I had ideas of how you make an independent film and then Swingers came along and it was like ‘Aha, that’s the perfect movie for me to test these ideas out on.’ I had these intellectual ideas on how you should make a sequel that are unlike how anybody else makes a sequel, and this script and this idea fit perfectly into that idea. So it’s gonna revolutionize how people make sequels. And again that’s why I try to do things like Invisible that are just, the revolution’s sort of built into the idea. It’s more heresy in the film world for me to pitch things that are sort of unheard of.”

McQuarrie helped out significantly in fine-tuning the script for Edge of Tomorrow and finding the ending, and in fact it was during the making of Edge that Cruise offered him the job of directing Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. But we learned this past spring that while McQuarrie is involved in Edge of Tomorrow 2, Race scribes Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse actually penned the script that Liman sounds so enthused about. However, while there is a script, it may be some time before Edge of Tomorrow 2 goes in front of cameras.

Liman is currently juggling a few different projects, including Justice League Dark; Cruise is gearing up to shoot Mission: Impossible 6 next year; and Blunt will be filming the Mary Poppins sequel in 2017. It’s exciting to know that there’s a script and idea that has Liman really excited though, so here’s hoping after these next projects the team can reunite and bring Edge of Tomorrow 2 to fruition.