Acting quickly to capitalise on the success of the first film, and the fact that co-writer/director Matthew Vaughn already had ideas for more stories, 20th Century Fox has planted a flag in June 16, 2017 for the Kingsman: The Secret Service sequel.
Before we proceed further, we should caution that this and other dates mentioned from here on out are all targeted at US audiences: the first Kingsman, for example, arrived on general release nearly half a month earlier here than it did in the States. But Variety’s report is more intriguing – or worrying, depending on how you look at it – that Vaughn isn’t actually aboard to direct yet. There’s a chance we could be looking at a repeat of the Kick-Ass situation, with Vaughn handing off the sequel to someone else, but during our podcast chat with the man (find it right here), he seemed so enthusiastic about the wild ideas he wanted to pull off for the sequel that he will hopefully return, as he’s working on the script already.
No other story details have been revealed about the film, though Taron Egerton will return as Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin, now a fully trained member of the elite spy agency. And in related release date news, Fox also announced that the untiled mother/daughter comedy that Amy Schumer has co-written (from an original draft by The Heat’s Katie Dippold) will arrive on May 12, 2017 with Warm Bodies’ Jonathan Levine in the director’s chair.
Finally, if you were awaiting the new version of Ben-Hur with Jack Huston taking over the iconic central role, then you’ll have to go on waiting a little longer. Originally scheduled for February 26 in the US (and March 11 here) next year, the Biblical pic has been shifted to an August 12 slot, presumably because MGM and Paramount are thinking it could compete in the summer.