Guy Ritchie Set to Direct Sequel to Controversial Reboot

Guy Ritchie is reuniting with Jake Gyllenhaal for Road House 2 at Prime Video. The first Road House, a reboot of the 1989 film starring Patrick Swayze, was an instant hit for the Amazon streaming service. That film was directed by Doug Liman, who became upset with Amazon over dropping Road House on Prime Video, instead of releasing it in theaters as it was originally conceived. So now enters Guy Ritchie, who has worked with Gyllenhaal on the upcoming In the Grey and Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, with the latter also coming under Amazon MGM Studios. There was a report in April that Guy Ritchie was being eyed to direct Road House 2.

Road House stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC fighter-turned-bouncer named Dalton. He’s recruited by Frankie (Jessica Williams), owner of a roadhouse in the Florida Keys, who needs Dalton’s help to stop a gang from destroying her bar. This brings Dalton into conflict with the mob boss named Brandt (Billy Magnussen). Dalton’s skills help him keep the gang at bay, but that all changes when a gun-for-hire named Knox (Conor McGregor) enters the scene. Road House marks McGregor’s first acting role after competing in the UFC.

Amazon announced a sequel to Road House last summer during its upfront presentation, and Liman’s status to return was even up in the air back then. Amazon MGM Studios states that Road House attracted 80 million worldwide viewers in its first eight weeks, “becoming Amazon MGM Studios’ most-watched produced film debut ever on a worldwide basis.”

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Doug Liman ended up skipping the world premiere of Road House in protest of the move from a theatrical release to streaming. He later expressed his concern about not getting more money for the movie’s streaming success. “First of all, I have no issue with streaming,” Liman told IndieWire. “We need streaming movies cause, we need writers to go to work and directors to go to work and actors to go to work and not every movie should be in a movie theater. So I’m a big advocate of TV series, of streaming movies, of theatrical movies, we should have it all.”

“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,” he continued. “Then Amazon switched it on us and nobody got compensated … 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.”

Guy Ritchie’s upcoming works on streaming include the just-launched MobLand at Paramount+ starring Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan, and Apple TV+’s Fountain of Youth starring John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, and Eiza González. His next feature film is Wife & Dog starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike, and Anthony Hopkins.

Directed by Doug Liman, Road House stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Joaquim De Almeida, Lukas Gage. Guy Ritchie steps in to direct Road House 2 with Gyllenhaal returning.