It’s been quite some time since talks regarding a sequel to the original movie “47 Ronin” starring Keanu Reeves is heading to Netflix. We’ve got all the latest updates on the forthcoming sequel which we’ve compiled below.
47 Ronin was released in 2013 helmed by Carl Rinsch and penned by Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini that is loosely based on Morgan and Walter Hamada. The film was inspired by the true-life events of the Shijushichishi that has since now become a part of the legend. Set in the eighteenth century, 47 wandering samurai without a leader avenged the murder of their Lord by slaying a court administrator, Kira Yoshinaka, arising in all of them executing in a ritual suicide also known as Seppuku.
It is a largely known story and has been serialized in Japan as a part of plays, television shows, operas, and later a film based on that very story was released. However, the movie didn’t do well at the box office, it was not popular or successful at all.
Despite the Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves as the main lead, the movie was a major flop raking in just over $150 million across the globe against its budget of $175 million. To say it, the movie is one of the most unfortunate flops in the industry.
So, how is a sequel possible when the original movie was a huge flop? First of all, the sequel has an official title which is Blade of The 47 Ronin. The movie was reported to be in development way back in August 2020 and here’s what we know about it.
Cast and Crew of Blade of The 47 Ronin
As per a report by Deadline, the sequel will be helmed by Ron Yuan and as for the writers, it was confirmed in April 2021 that Aimee Garcia is joining with author AJ Mendez to come up with a script for the upcoming sequel.
Meanwhile, the movie is being produced by Convergence Entertainment with John Orlando, Tim Kwok, and Share Stallings serving as producers.
As for the cast, it’s unlikely that Keanu Reeves will return as Kai. Apart from him, there’s Anna Akana, Dustin Nguyen, Chris Pang, Mike Yoh, Yoshi Sudarso, and Teresa Wing.
When is the sequel releasing?
It’s unknown when the movie will be released but ProductionWeekly reported that filming is set to begin this September. So hopefully we could get a late 2022 release.
The other interesting news is, the sequel will have a Netflix release.
What would be the plot of Blade of The 47 Ronin?
The plotline for the upcoming sequel reads:
“The sequel to the 2013 pic will be set 300 years into the future in an exotic cyberpunk world. The film will be a fresh, re-imagined take on the original feature and will incorporate horror along with modern samurai and ninja elements.”
Aimee Garcia in an interview previously said, “AJ and I are excited to write a diverse and inclusive action film, director Ron Yuan’s vision to blend martial arts, horror, cyber-punk, and action was inspiring and we’d like to thank the team at 1440 for being so supportive.”
AJ Mendez added: “As creators of color, we’re honored to be part of a modern, multicultural story with powerful female leads.”
However, in a recent talk with Inverse, Aimee Garcia teased about the upcoming sequel and what the viewers should expect from the ensemble of warriors.
Garcia stated, “We just wrote the sequel to 47 Ronin. It was fulfilling to create female and diverse characters. A.J. and I wrote two strong female leads. Now they’re casting a Latina and a Japanese [actress]. Our other lead is Black. Hopefully, they discover new stars.”
Director Ron Yuan named it a “genre-blending, martial arts, action, horror and cyber-punk film. This will be a fun, intense, supercharged thrill ride for viewers globally.”
Excited? Maybe. But of course, we’re looking forward to the sequel knowing very well that its predecessor didn’t do well. Let’s just say we have high expectations for this one.
