Guy Ritchie is on deck to direct the sequel to Amazon MGM’s 2024 Road House remake, reports Variety. The follow-up will see Jake Gyllenhaal return to the lead role as ex-UFC fighter-turned-bouncer Elwood Dalton.
A Gyllenhaal-led sequel was previously confirmed in May last year, with the announcement coming quickly in the wake of the remake’s successful March 2024 release. Road House accumulated over 50 million views during its first two weekends on Prime, which made it Amazon MGM Studios’ most-watched produced film debut ever on a worldwide basis at that time.
2024’s Road House was directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow, Swingers), but Liman immediately appeared unlikely to return for a sequel after criticising the film’s streaming release.
“My issue on Road House is that we made the movie for MGM to be in theaters, everyone was paid as if it was going to be in theaters, and then Amazon switched it on us and nobody got compensated,” said Liman at the time. “Forget about the effect on the industry — 50 million people saw Road House — I didn’t get a cent, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t get a cent, [producer] Joel Silver didn’t get a cent. That’s wrong.”
According to Gyllenhaal, however, Amazon had been clear Road House was destined for streaming.
Road House 2 will complete a trifecta of collaborations between Ritchie and Gyllenhaal, and will mark their second project for Amazon MGM following the awkwardly titled but well received 2023 war film Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant. They’ve also paired up for the upcoming action thriller In the Grey, which additionally stars Henry Cavill, but that film has no current release date.
Further details about Road House 2 are scant, but it’s being written by Will Beall (Gangster Squad, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F).
As it stands, there’s little rest for Guy Ritchie. The director helmed multiple episodes of the just-launched Paramount+ series MobLand (starring Tom Hardy) and his next film, Fountain of Youth, lands on Apple TV+ later this month.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
