‘National Treasure’ director wants a third movie, fears streaming-only release

“National Treasure.”
Disney

• “National Treasure” director Jon Turteltaub said there
  are no definite plans for a third movie in the franchise, but
  he believes if it ever happens the movie would likely be on
  Disney’s upcoming streaming service and not be a theatrical
  release.
• He explained to Business Insider why that is his
  biggest fear.

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Before Disney got obsessed with superhero films and “Star Wars,”
the studio had a strong interest in making family-friendly action
films. 

One of its surprise moneymakers in the aughts was the Nicolas
Cage-starring action franchise “National Treasure.” 

Both the 2004 original and 2007 “National Treasure: Book of
Secrets” earned over $300 million worldwide (over $450 million
for the sequel) and were the second highest grossing films
domestically in both years for Disney. 

But a third movie featuring the antics of Cage’s part-historian,
part-Indiana-Jones character Benjamin Franklin Gates have been
pushed aside for years. The team has been unable to nail down a
script everyone agreed on, and in the meantime, the studio has
found a goldmine in Marvel Studios.

However, with the upcoming Disney streaming service, is it now
time to get excited about “National Treasure 3” being a reality?
The director of the franchise, Jon Turteltaub, said that’s his
biggest worry.

Jon
Turteltaub.
Getty

“My prediction and my fear is you will see ‘National Treasure 3’
on their streaming platform,” Turteltaub told Business Insider
while promoting his upcoming new movie, “The Meg” (opening in
theaters on Friday).

“I feel it deserves the big movie treatment, and I’ll make a s–t
ton more money if it’s a movie, so f–k streaming,” Turteltaub
said.

As far as Turteltaub knows Nicolas Cage and costars Diane Kruger
and Jon Voight are all up for doing another movie and that’s
mainly why they would go forward with a third if Disney only
wants to do a streaming release and not a theatrical.

“We’ll probably all say ‘yes’ because we love it and each other
so much,” he said. “But you got to hit everybody on the right
week.”

According to the director, there are no firm plans for “National
Treasure 3,” and he can understand that because of the studio’s
success with its other franchises. However, he believes “National
Treasure” is more popular today than it ever was.

“How do you not make another movie when the films leading up to
it are all internet memes?” he asked. “It’s out there. And it’s
got a bigger audience than the first one had when no one knew
what the hell we were doing.”