Now that Jake Gyllenhaal is officially confirmed to return for a Road House sequel, it needs to avoid the biggest mistake of its predecessor. 2024’s Road House remake didn’t waste any time teasing a sequel when its mid-credits scene showed Conor McGregor’s villain Knox wreaking havoc at a hospital and escaping unscathed following the final fight. This sequence teased a rematch with Gyllenhaal’s Dalton, and now that Amazon has confirmed the development of a sequel, that rematch is about to become a reality.

The officially confirmed Road House sequel is a chance for Gyllenhaal and co. to make up for all the missed opportunities from the first film. The sequel can introduce the bar from the O.G. movie, the Double Deuce, and finally bring in a new actor to play Sam Elliott’s role as Dalton’s friend and colleague Wade Garrett. But above all, the Road House sequel is an opportunity to rectify the mistake that Amazon made with the release strategy of the 2024 remake.

Amazon Needs To Give Road House 2 A Theatrical Release

One of the biggest controversies surrounding 2024’s Road House reboot was its lack of a theatrical release. Some of the filmmakers disagreed with Amazon’s decision to release the film straight to its streaming service, and even spoke out against that decision. The surprising success of Amazon’s Road House remake proves that it could’ve done well if it was released in theaters (especially since it had little competition at the time of its release). To make up for that blunder, the sequel needs to get a theatrical run.

Road House 2 Could Still Work With A Smaller Budget To Release In Theaters

It’s tough to crunch the numbers for a theatrical release in the post-pandemic world, but there’s a way to make a theatrical release work for Road House 2. The filmmakers’ deal with Amazon for the 2024 movie was that the streamer would provide a bigger budget in exchange for a straight-to-streaming release. The producers should make the opposite compromise for the sequel: a smaller budget in exchange for a theatrical release. Honestly, there was no need for the Road House remake to cost $85 million.

It’s an action movie about bouncers breaking up bar brawls; it didn’t need a big CG-laden final battle on a runaway yacht. The O.G. Road House had a very small budget and still did really well. Road House isn’t the type of franchise that needs a ballooned blockbuster budget. The Road House sequel could get away with a modest budget of $40 million or even lower and still succeed at the box office by recapturing the hard-hitting, high-octane thrills of its predecessor.