The Last Witch Hunter sequel moving forward with Vin Diesel and Michael Caine
Ten years ago, Lionsgate released the fantasy action film The Last Witch Hunter, starring Vin Diesel as Kaulder, a man who had spent 800 years hunting witches for an organization called the Axe and Cross. The movie wasn’t particularly well received and only made $147 million at the box office on a budget that was somewhere in the range of 71 to 90 million… but Diesel has been talking up the possibility of a sequel ever since, and now he has wished it into reality. Deadline reports that a sequel to The Last Witch Hunter is moving forward, with Diesel on board to reprise the role of Kaulder and Michael Caine expected to return as a priest called Dolan.
Diesel’s One Race Films is developing the project with Lionsgate, and the hope is that they’re going to get it onto the production fast track. Deadline notes that “the move goes with Lionsgate strategy to grow IP with staying power and sci-fi fantasy spectacle elements that can overperform in the ancillary markets and create long-term library value.” It helps that The Last Witch Hunter has re-emerged as a streaming hit this year, becoming one of the five most-viewed movies on Netflix.
Directed by Breck Eisner, the original film had a story crafted by Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama, and Burk Sharpless. Here’s the synopsis: The modern world holds many secrets, but the most astounding secret of all is that witches still live amongst us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe for centuries, including KAULDER, a valiant warrior who managed to slay the all-powerful QUEEN WITCH, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, the QUEEN curses KAULDER with her own immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter in the afterlife. Today KAULDER is the only one of his kind remaining, and has spent centuries hunting down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost loved ones. However, unbeknownst to KAULDER, the QUEEN WITCH is resurrected and seeks revenge on her killer causing an epic battle that will determine the survival of the human race.
Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, had this to say about the sequel plans: “The Last Witch Hunter has grown since its theatrical release into a global fan favorite, with audiences continuing to discover and re-watch it across every platform over the past decade. That enduring enthusiasm made clear there is an appetite for more stories set in this world. Vin and I have partnered many times over the years, and he is a true force in our industry. I’m thrilled to be reuniting with him as he returns to this iconic role, and excited by how advancements in filmmaking technology now allow us to economically deliver a sequel on an even more ambitious scale.“
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