Sony’s been playing will they, won’t they with a sequel to 2011’sThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoofor years, but the project may finally be making some progress.Varietyreports that the studio is eyeingDon’t BreatheandEvil DeaddirectorFede Alvarezto take on the long-brewing follow-up,The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The report also states thatRooney Marais expected to return as the gifted hacker and inquiring mind, Lizbeth Salander.
Based on the new novel byDavid Lagercrantz, who took over theGirl with the Dragon Tattoonovels after series creatorStieg Larsondied in 2004,The Girl in the Spider’s Webcomes from a scriptSteven Knight(Eastern Promises) penned with prolific producerScott Rudin(No Country for Old Men). The novel follows Salander through another investigative team-up with Mikael Blomkvist (played byDaniel Craigin the first film) when they uncover a web of government spies and cyber criminals with deadly stakes.
Sony was, at one point, planning to adapt Larson’s final two books in his original trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl in the Hornet’s Nest, into a single second film before focusing on The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The first film was directed byDavid Fincher, but his involvement in the sequel faded out quite a while ago.
Alvarez is coming off the breakout success of his Screen Gems horror film Don’t Breathe, which grossed more than $88 million domestically over the summer, on a reported $9.9 million budget, making it an even bigger success than his feature film debut, Evil Dead (which grossed $54 million on $17 million budget and had a brand name going for it). Basically, he’s made a whole bunch of money for Sony, so it makes sense that they’d want him at the helm of one of their bigger franchises. Alvarez is also currentlydeveloping an adaptationofEd BrubakerandSean Phillips‘ beloved comics seriesIncognitofor the studio alongwith10 Cloverfield LanewriterDaniel Casey.
