Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World director Edgar Wright has always had a lot of fans among both professional critics and general audiences, but his movies have rarely been able to translate their critical success to the sort of ticket sales that spawn franchises. That might change with his latest film, Baby Driver.
Already the highest-grossing film directed by Wright and boasting some of the most positive reviews — from critics and audiences — of any of his prior projects, Baby Driver is shaping up to be a big hit. Naturally, that has led to some speculation that it could be the first of Wright’s films to get a sequel, and it appears that the filmmaker is not ruling out the possibility of continuing that particular story with star Ansel Elgort’s talented getaway driver, Baby.
“The studio has asked me to think about writing a sequel, and it’s funny that [Baby Driver] is one of the ones that I might do a sequel to, because I think there’s somewhere more to go with it in terms of the characters,” Wright told The Empire Film Podcast. “Baby has sort of got to a new place.”
After conceding that most of his previous films didn’t leave much room for sequels — with the exception of 2007’s Hot Fuzz, that is — Wright indicated that Baby Driver is in the unique position of having its characters in a place where they can still evolve and change at the end of the film. He then offered up some ideas about where a potential sequel might take Baby and the approach it would take to extending the character’s narrative.
“Most sequels, you have to contrive something so they go back to square one, unless there’s somewhere deeper for them to go,” Wright said. “I think with Baby Driver, there’s more that you can do in that realm, and I sort of have an idea that if you did another one you would subvert his involvement in the crime in a different way so he’s not kind of like the apprentice anymore.”
Currently in its second week in theaters, Baby Driver is rolling along with a 97-percent approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and a positive, “A-” grade on audience polling site CinemaScore. The film was written and directed by Wright and casts Elgort as a getaway driver who relies on his personal soundtrack to be one of the best wheelmen in the crime scene. After a heist goes awry, he soon finds himself on the run, with everyone and everything he holds dear threatened by some of his former associates.
Along with Elgort, the film’s cast includes two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey (House of Cards, American Beauty) Lily James (Cinderella), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Eiza Gonzalez (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series), Jon Bernthal (Daredevil), and Academy Award-winner Jamie Foxx (Ray).
Baby Driver hit theaters June 28 and has earned more than $39 million in U.S. theaters so far and more than $45 million worldwide.
