Crank Director Wants a Jason Statham Cinematic Universe

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Crank Director Wants a Statham-Led Cinematic Universe

By Brandon Staley

Published Jan 29, 2018

Director Brian Taylor says he wants a cinematic universe based on Jason Statham’s character from the Crank series.

Eagerly anticipating news about a potential Crank 3? Maybe don’t get your hopes up. The director of Crank and Crank: High Voltage, Brian Taylor, recently confirmed as much, but that hasn’t kept him from trying over the years.

According to the director, whose recent work includes developing the Syfy series Happy! and directing the Nicholas Cage-led horror movie Mom and Dad, he would love to make a Crank 3 – and perhaps even grow the franchise out.

“The prospects for Crank 3 would be much improved if the second movie had made more than $12 at the box office,” Taylor joked on an episode of The Movie Crypt podcast. “So there really isn’t like a Fast & Furious financial incentive to do it, right? So, it’s got to be a great idea. It’s got to be everybody on the same page and passionate about doing something insane. My feeling about Crank 3 is that Crank 3 should be as exponentially more f—ed up than Crank 2 as Crank 2 was Crank 1. Obviously, there’s been talk here and there but I’ve never really felt that creatively it was f—ed up enough to really do. Because the studio will get in contact with us: ‘What do you guys think about this?’ ‘What do you guys think about that?’ And the scenarios are always very tame compared to what I think it should be.”

Crank (2006) starred Jason Statham as hitman Chev Chelios who is poisoned by his own employer with a drug that completely inhibits his body’s adrenaline production. As a result, he must continuously perform increasingly ludicrous stunts to keep his adrenaline flowing.

Statham returned for the sequel, Crank: High Voltage (2009), in which Chev was again put in dire biological straits. The second time around, Chev’s heart is replaced with an artificial one that requires frequent electrical shocks to prime. There’s no telling what Taylor has in mind for a potential Crank 3, but he said he would love to grow out the franchise, which would be led by Statham, of course.

“Obviously, there’s a great movie there somewhere,” Taylor said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be Jason Statham in a wheelchair, 40 years from now. I think there should be a Crank cinematic universe. Not just one movie. So, who knows? There’s nothing in the works right now. But you never know.”

Taylor’s current project, Happy!, was just renewed for a second season.

(via Entertainment Weekly)