After Louis Leterrier declined to return for the inevitable Clash of the Titans sequel, Warner Bros. had to move on to other possible directors. Back in June we got word that Battle: Los Angeles director, Jonathan Liebesman, was at the top of a shortlist of directors – now it’s been confirmed that he will direct Clash of the Titans 2.
Heat Vision reports the news exclusively that Liebesman has signed on to direct the Titans sequel, after a summer spent negotiating a deal with the studio. Unsurprisingly, the reason for it taking this long was partly about money but also the issues of how to get around the negative opinions of the first film to try and better sell Clash of the Titans 2 to audiences.
Quick suggestion: how about actually shooting the film in 3D this time instead of giving us crappy post-conversion 3D?…
Well, that’s exactly one of the issues that will be dealt with in the most direct of ways. Back when Liebesman was in contention to get the directing gig we reported that the film will be shot in 3D, as is generally the hope amongst film fans, in this world where every second movie adds that third dimension.
On top of shooting the sequel in 3D, the studio has also attached some top talent to write the Titans 2 script in the form of Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson (after Green Lantern‘s Greg Berlanti worked on the treatment).
Mazeau has worked on the scripts for both The Flash and Johnny Quest, while Johnson wrote the horror/thriller Orphan and the upcoming Little Red Riding Hood. The writing duo were apparently brought on-board to hasten the writing process.
As I said when Liebesman first became attached to Clash of the Titans 2, he doesn’t strike me as the absolute right director to helm the sequel, simply because he’s not experienced enough with this type of movie. If they’re trying to vastly improve on the first movie then shouldn’t they get a director with more experience in the genre?
Liebesman has only really done horror films in the past, so him getting this gig suggests he did an amazing job on the expensive Battle: Los Angeles. He’s also bringing us a reimagining of Odysseus (also set up at WB), which he helped conceive and eventually sold to the studio. These are two projects we’ve yet to see in finished form, so perhaps I’m wrong and he’s the perfect choice to direct the Clash of the Titans sequel. We’ll just have to wait and see at this point.
In the acting department, it’s likely that both Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton (amongst others) will return for the next Clash of the Titans. Although, in regard to Worthington, he also has Avatar 2 which will possibly start shooting late 2011, so Titans 2 will need to start shooting well before then.
Clash of the Titans 2 could start shooting in January 2011 and might hit theaters as early as Spring 2012.
