Road House 2

gets an exciting new update, with Guy Ritchie reportedly in talks to direct. Serving as a remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze movie of the same name, the 2024 Amazon MGM release hailed from director Doug Liman and featured Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, a bouncer tasked with bringing order to a rowdy Florida dive bar. Reviews for the first movie were mixed from critics, but the film, which also stars Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, and Conor McGregor, was a major viewership hit on Prime Video, leading to confirmation of a Road House 2.

Matthew Belloni now reports in his Puck newsletter that Ritchie could replace Liman as the director of Road House 2. The filmmaker, who previously directed Jake Gyllenhaal in Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023), is said to still be in negotiations. Belloni also notes that, though there’s no confirmation on this, the sequel could get a theatrical release after the first one was released directly onto Prime Video.

What This Means For Road House 2

The Remake’s Release Controversy Explained

If Ritchie does sign on to direct Road House 2, it will mark his third collaboration with Gyllenhaal. The two are reuniting for an upcoming action film called In the Grey. This movie, which stars Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill as extraction specialists working to rescue a female negotiator from dangerous territory, was originally supposed to release earlier this year after filming in 2023, but it currently remains undated. Ritchie also remains busy with The Gentlemen season 2 and a thriller called Wife and Dog, calling into question when work on the Road House sequel could begin.

As for Road House 2‘s potential theatrical release, this news comes after Amazon MGM and Prime Video head Mike Hopkins recently affirmed the company’s commitment to theatrical releases, with 14 scheduled for the big screen in 2026. If the sequel does go to theaters, it would seemingly be another blow to Liman, who wrote a scathing ᴅᴇᴀᴅline op-ed in 2023 about Amazon’s decision to release the original Road House directly onto Prime Video, announcing that he would be boycotting the film’s SXSW premiere in protest. He ultimately did attend, however.

Our Take On Guy Ritchie Directing Road House 2

Ritchie Could Address A Divisive Doug Liman Decision

Not all of Ritchie’s most recent movies have been successes, with both The Covenant and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre underperforming in 2023, but he certainly has a strong resume of interesting projects dating back close to three decades. With Ritchie directing, the sequel would likely look and feel different from the 2024 remake, perhaps meaning issues in the Road House reviews would be addressed. This includes a divisive new method for filming fight sequences that relies more heavily on VFX.

While Ritchie and Gyllenhaal evidently enjoy a strong working relationship and would seemingly make for a good pairing on Road House 2, the possibility of a theatrical release is especially exciting. Despite its flaws, the 2024 remake was a lot of fun, and it probably would’ve played well in front of a crowd with all of its bone-crunching fight scenes. It remains to be seen when work on Road House 2 could actually get underway, but there is evidently still movement on the project behind the scenes.

Source: Puck