What's Going On With Edge Of Tomorrow 2, And Will We Ever See It?
Tom Cruise isn't just one of the reigning kings of the box office. In recent years, the actor has also proven himself king of the box office revival, pumping fresh blood into his own decades-old franchises with sequels that have garnered praise and raked in returns across the globe. In 2018, the sixth "Mission: Impossible" film became the series' most lucrative, bringing in nearly $800 million worldwide (per Box Office Mojo). In 2022, Cruise one-upped himself with "Top Gun: Maverick," a sequel to a thirty-four-year-old action film that earned an astounding $1.48 billion at the global box office.
The 60-year-old action star has clearly got the juice, and the only question now is where he'll apply his cinema-saving stardom next. He's already set to return to the role of Ethan Hunt again in this year's "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1," a spectacle-filled follow-up that's set to include car chases, a fight atop a speeding train, and a motorcycle cliff jump that Cruise reportedly really did. Since Cruise is always apparently thinking ahead to his next big stunt, it's worth raising the question: what will he do next?
Live, die, repeat again
When it comes to returning to ground he's already covered, there's one Cruise film that seems like a natural choice for a sequel: "Edge of Tomorrow." The 2014 film, also sometimes called "Live Die Repeat," is based on a book by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and co-stars Cruise and Emily Blunt as two military leaders tasked with helping to save the world from aliens called Mimics. Only, their mission is interrupted and complicated when Cruise's character, Major Bill Cage, gets caught in a time loop after exposure to alien blood. The film was well-received, and /Film's own review called it a movie that takes "a rewarding time travel conceit" and "builds upon that construct in a way we've never seen, managing to entertain with humor, action and suspense."
Despite not making as much of a splash as expected in America, "Edge of Tomorrow" was a moderate financial success upon release, with a global box office gross of $370 against a budget of $178 million according to Box Office Mojo. Those aren't "Top Gun: Maverick" numbers by any means, but with Cruise's knack for punching up sequels, they're enough to warrant a second installment. The cast and crew apparently agreed as well: in 2016, a sequel was announced with "Race" screenwriters Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse reportedly attached to the script, and original film director Doug Liman returning behind the camera. The project has since seen further script changes, with rewrites from both Jez Butterworth and Matthew Robinson over the years according to IGN.
'I think the movie is probably too expensive'
In the six years since it was first announced, an "Edge of Tomorrow" sequel has failed to materialize, but that hasn't stopped the cast and crew from speaking up about the prospect of another chapter. In 2021, Blunt told Entertainment Weekly she had read a script that was "in really great shape," while way back in 2016, Liman told IGN that the follow-up film is "going to revolutionize how people make sequels," but didn't elaborate further. The first "Edge of Tomorrow" film was a complex, special effects-heavy time travel story, and it sounds like the sequel would be equally ambitious. In 2021, Blunt spoke about the future of the film in an interview with Howard Stern and worried that it might be "too expensive."
"Honestly, I think the movie is probably too expensive," Blunt shared. "Yeah, I just don't know how we're going to do it." The actress noted that she, Cruise, and Liman would each still love to do the movie, but that "it's hard to align everyone's schedules." In addition to budgetary and scheduling concerns, Blunt seemed to indicate that the film industry — at the time impacted by COVID-19 — is changing, and maybe not in a way that makes the sequel seem more viable. "Until we figure out what's going on with the industry ... Honestly, I think we need to figure out what is the next road map for the kinds of films that people want to make?"
Liman and Cruise have another ambitious project in the works
Liman, meanwhile, seems confident in the idea behind the "Edge of Tomorrow" sequel but says it needs both its stars in order to get it off the ground. "If you can get Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt to commit to the movie, it's going to happen," he told Collider in 2021. If both Blunt and Liman express interest and cite scheduling problems, it might be up to the third side of the triangle, Cruise, to make a second "Edge of Tomorrow" happen. The actor has had a busy schedule lately; in addition to the upcoming two-part "Mission: Impossible" sequel, Cruise is reportedly planning to make a movie in space with Liman. That project would reportedly be shot aboard the International Space Station, according to Variety.
If Cruise comes back down to earth long enough to film a second "Edge of Tomorrow," Blunt returns as well, and the project isn't too expensive, it sounds like the film may be a done deal. But those are some pretty big "ifs" that may take a while to sort out. In the meantime, Liman says the idea for the second film is one that would center its stars with a "character-driven" sequel. "I get sometimes the sequel just has to have more firepower or more explosions," Liman tells Collider, "but no visual effect is going to top what you're going to get from a great scene performed by Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt."