Ryan Gosling’s Comedy With 91% Rotten Tomatoes Gets Disappointing Sequel Update

Ryan Gosling gives a disappointing sequel update for 2016’s The Nice Guys. The Shane Black-directed dark comedy saw Gosling team up with Russell Crowe in 1977 Los Angeles in order to find a missing person and solve the mysterious death of a porn star. It opened to glowing reviews from critics and positive reviews from audiences, garnering 91% from critics and 79% from audiences on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. However, it didn’t perform as well at the box office, only making $71 million against a reported $50 million budget.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Gosling gave a disappointing update regarding The Nice Guys 2, saying that a sequel might not happen. He credits the unlikeliness of a sequel happening to the film’s opening weekend numbers, which paled in comparison to another movie released at the same time. Read Gosling’s full comment below:

So much of a sequel, I think, is decided by the opening weekend of a movie, and we opened up against Angry Birds. So Angry Birds just, just destroyed us. Angry Birds got a sequel.

Why The Nice Guys 2 Once Seemed Possible (But Isn’t Now)

Ryan Gosling Has Found Success Elsewhere In The Meantime

There has been speculation as to what could happen in a sequel to The Nice Guys, so Gosling’s comments could be disappointing to viewers. The concept behind The Nice Guys – two initially reluctant private detectives with distinguishing and idiosyncratic features pairing up to solve a crime – was a great foundation for a continuation. Pair that with the chemistry and individual talent of Gosling and Crowe, and a sequel almost seemed like a no-brainer.

In a 2023 interview, Crowe joked that a possible Nice Guys 2 could have seen the two characters pretending to be Mexican detectives. Director Black even said that there were plans to spin off the concept into a television show. This, however, never came to be, and the film remains without any sequels or spin-offs despite being so well-received by many. Its disappointing box office returns have seemingly killed any chance of a sequel.

The Nice Guys’ underwhelming box office performance didn’t slow Gosling down. Since then, he’s starred in a variety of films that have each gained generally positive reviews. After 2016’s La La Land and its successful Oscar run, he starred in Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed Blade Runner 2049, Damien Chazelle’s biographical First Man, and Greta Gerwig’s 2023 hit Barbie. This May, he’s starring in The Fall Guy, which is already getting good reviews. Therefore, while a sequel to The Nice Guys might not be happening, fans of the actor have plenty of acclaimed Gosling movies to choose from.

Source: ComicBook.com