Antoine Fuqua Interested in Making a Magnificent Seven Sequel
Antoine Fuqua thinks there's plenty of potential left fore more 'Magnificent Seven.'
Looking back at his career, filmmaker Antoine Fuqua has made a lot of good movies, but the upcoming Equalizer 3 is the deepest he has gone into a real franchise. The director behind Training Day and Emancipation has done a bunch of big-hit movies, but he isn't a tentpole blockbuster guy for the most part. One potential exception came with his 2016 remake of The Magnificent 7, in which he cast Denzel Washington as Chisolm, a man who assembled a group of outlaws to help him take down a corrupt industrialist's private army.
Speaking with ComicBook.com in support of Equalizer 3, Fuqua admitted that he thought there was more to Chisolm's story, and he woudln't mind re-exploring that world if the opportunity arose.
"I think, Magnificent 7, I always wanted that character to have more of a story," Fuqua told ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis. "I wanted, a bigger story, an arc with that character, you know? Very cool guy."
True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto has been tapped to write and executive produce a TV adaptation of The Magnificent Seven at Amazon Studios. The property is one of a number of MGM films that are due to be revived for film and television, as Amazon seeks to look beyond just James Bond and Rocky for IP they can mine from the MGM vault. Pizzolatto set out to create an original Western for Amazon Studios while Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) was developing The Magnificent Seven.
While most audiences only really think about the 1960 original, The Magnificent Seven spawned three sequels, a TV show (which ran from 1998 until 2000), and a 2016 big-screen remake. The 1960 film, which was directed by John Sturges, starred Yul Brenner, Charles Bronson, and Steve McQueen, among others. The movie was an Americanization of Seven Samurai, the acclaimed Japanese film from director Akira Kurosawa.
The 2016 movie, which was written by Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk, starred Denzel Washington alongisde Marvel stars Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent D'Onofrio. Washington, Wenk, and The Magnificent Seven director Antoine Fuqua are reteaming for a Equalizer 3.