First emerging as a British cinema bad boy twenty years ago, filmmaker Guy Ritchie has turned into one of the better blockbuster helmers out there today.
Ritchie brings an entertaining cheekiness to his films, resulting in under-appreciated works of pure fun like “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “The Gentlemen” along with the two “Sherlock Holmes” films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.
Talk of a third film in that series has long swirled – both the previous movies earned just over $520 million worldwide each and were fairly well received. Out doing promotional rounds for his new film “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre,” Ritchie was asked by Collider about the status of the third ‘Sherlock’ film.
Turns out it’s not up to him, it’s all up to the film’s star Downey Jr. and whether he wants to do it:
“Well, honestly, I left this up to Robert [Downey Jr.]. So Robert wanted to be in charge of this. The ball’s in his court, so he’s in charge of the script, he’s in charge of the whole thing. I’ve moonwalked out of that until there’s a time for me to get involved.”
At last report, Ritchie was out and Dexter Fletcher was going to replace him – but that was before the pandemic threw various schedules into flux.
Ritchie also spoke about a potential sequel to the 2019 live-action adaptation of “Aladdin” which Ritchie directed and managed to pull in $1.05 billion at the global box office. The helmer says he’d be happy to come back, but again it’s not up to him – it’s all up to Disney:
“I’d very much like to. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that experience. It was a great experience. That whole Disney thing, as you can imagine, is such a professional outfit. Just from that perspective, it was so much fun. I would very much like to, we’ll wait and see. We have been kicking some ideas around for some time now, but it’d be great to do, it would be great to go back there.”
Ritchie’s “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” arrives in theaters on March 3rd. He’s also already completed directing the war drama “The Covenant” starring Jake Gyllenhaal which will open in cinemas on April 21st. Currently, he’s at work filming Henry Cavill, Elza Gonzalez, Henry Golding and Alan Ritchson in the spy thriller “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”.
