‘Chronicle 2′ Script Has Studio Executives Unhappy

'Chronicle,' a refreshing entry into both the superhero and found footage genres, was a success at the box office and 'Chronicle 2' was announced fairly quickly. Made with a budget reportedly under $15 million, the original 'Chronicle' benefited from having an energetic young cast, a solid vision and a dramatic, original screenplay by Max Landis. With Landis once again working on the script, 'Chronicle 2' has Fox executives unhappy with the direction of the franchise. So what's the problem?

It would appear that the studio, 20th Century Fox, isn't so interested in evolving the story of 'Chronicle', preferring to stick to what worked the first time around. The news comes from one John Landis, who just happens to be Max's father, hence he's pretty close to the source.

Speaking at a Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screening of his classic 'An American Werewolf in London', Landis got to talking about the difficulties of getting an original project off the ground in this business. This led to a juicy morsel concerning his son and the state of development on 'Chronicle 2' via The Playlist:

He wrote a sequel, and it’s amazing, and the studio read it and said, ‘We want ‘Chronicle’ again!’ And he said, ‘No, this is the sequel, it’s the evolution, and they said ‘No, we want that movie again!’ So it’s difficult, we’re dealing with a difficult business.’

As we don't know the direction Landis has taken his sequel, it's tough to pick a side here, but obviously his new vision has strayed too far from what the studio wants. It could come down to money (maybe Landis isn't writing a movie that will cost just $15 million), or it could simply come down to a company wanting to replicate its success, which is the frustrating reality of this (as Papa Landis notes above) difficult business. If Landis has gone off the reservation with his follow-up, Fox has to rethink its investment or, short of that, look for a new writer. Either way might spell trouble for the 'Chronicle 2', but we'll have to wait and see how this plays out.