Harvey Weinstein Still Hoping To Make ‘Rounders 2’
By Germain Lussier/June 6, 2011 12:30 pm EST
So though Rounders was a theatrical bust, the poker boom made it a home video smash, grossing $70 million in profit for Miramax. The film was recently on a list of catalog titles Miramax was hoping to sequelize along with The Weinstein Company and this week Harvey Weinstein himself, a producer of the original movie and former head of the studio that released it, said he’s still trying to get a sequel to Rounders made.
Obviously though, Rounders 2 would have to work on the theatrical end this time around. The business is weighted more toward theatrical now because movies make less with DVD sales then a few years ago. Presumably that’s because of digital options but the profit for those options have not made up the difference.
The video has gotten such awareness. I never make sequels but it’s something I’d like to revisit.
In the past we’ve heard that the Rounders writers, David Levien and Brian Koppelman, have been thinking about a sequel, plus Matt Damon and Edward Norton have always said they’d be up for the film. It’s just a matter of everything happening at the right time.
It’s working without a net right now, until VOD and the Internet situation matures. (At present) they are not working like DVD did.
I actually saw Rounders in theaters but didn’t full appreciate it until home video. Now I can – and do – quote it regularly and consider myself a huge fan. However, while I’d love to see these characters return, I think the Weinsteins missed their window for a sequel. Curtis Hansen made a (terrible) poker movie closer to the apex of the poker boom, Lucky You, and it was not successful. Then again, that film didn’t have the name recognition of Rounders, Damon and Norton.
Do you think this sequel will ever happen? Where would you want to see the story go?
