Following several years of talk about the idea, and a number of script drafts, it looks like the world’s drunkest Santa-impersonating thief is finally ready to disgrace our screens again. Well, he will be once he gets shooting, as Billy Bob Thornton is officially aboard **Bad Santa 2.
The sequel to the 2004 original has been in the works for a while, and writers such as Shauna Cross, John Phillips, Johnny Rosenthal and, most recently, Entourage’s Doug Ellin have been involved in cracking the script, story details for which remain wrapped in a box with a bow on top. Ellin mentioned back in May that it looked like the film would finally start shooting next year, but it now appears to be readying a January shoot in Montreal, with its eye still on Christmas 2016 as a potential release slot. No director was mentioned in Miramax and Broad Green Pictures’ press release, though Ellin was the last person attached to that job, but perhaps he’s decided to move on? Thornton’s Willie Soke will definitely be back for more wayward behaviour.
“Bad Santa has been a part of our family holiday tradition ever since we all saw it together at our neighborhood theater,” Broad Green Pictures' Gabriel Hammond and Daniel Hammond said in in the release picked up by Variety. “We are excited to bring this memorable character and new chapter back to the big screen.”