Who doesn’t like a good magic trick? One of the things I enjoy about watching magicians is trying to figure out how they did it, trying to uncover their remarkable skills and just how they managed to pull the wool over my eyes. Something which continues to draw me in when I watch certain illusionists to this day, although I prefer the real live thing over the TV shows we see today where the camera plays a big part of the trick.
It was that love for magic and mystery that made me enjoy the first Now You See Me film. That movie came out in 2013 and followed several magicians as they committed robberies and evaded law enforcement through a series of brazen live magic shows and massive illusions. The film starred several big names including Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, and Isla Fisher and proved to be successful at the box office even if it came under fire critically for some narrative stumbles.
The plan was to turn Now You See Me into a franchise with its first sequel and a third film announced for development soon afterwards. However, when Now You See Me 2 was released in 2016, it was underwhelming with and many fans criticised the story as there were simply too many implausible plot twists thrown at the audience. That third film, which was supposed to be directed by Jon M Chu and featured a script written by Neil Widener and Gavin James, never materialised and it appeared as if Lionsgate had decided to put the franchise to rest instead.
Lionsgate has announced (via Screen Rant)that the third film is once again in development with Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle) hired to write the script based off a new idea that he came up with. It appears Singer’s fresh idea for the franchise reinvigorated the studio and convinced them to try another sequel that can hopefully recapture that magic from the first film (and somehow get the stars back for it too):
Eric has always been fascinated with the fine art of deception and illusion in all of its forms and he came to us with a great story that takes the mythology of Now You See Me and pushes The Four Horsemen to a whole new level with our key returning cast and new characters. The Now You See Me franchise has been built on keeping the audience surprised and guessing. Any great magician knows, you can’t keep doing the same tricks. And Eric and his team of illusionists have something special up their sleeve for this new film.
Can a third flick pull off a big magic trick and make us excited about this franchise again? Or will it try and deceive us with more empty promises? The project doesn’t have a release date just yet or a planned director, but I guess with Singer stuck at home, we could see a script come out pretty soon.
Last Updated: April 29, 2020
David Scott Duncan
April 29, 2020 at 12:14
These movies were crap. While The Prestige, for example, looked like actual magic tricks, the tricks in these movies looked terribly CGI’d.
Kervyn Cloete
April 29, 2020 at 13:35
This is actually the reason why I really didn’t like either of the previous two movies. There’s no cleverness behind the tricks, because it’s all impossible stuff pulled off with editing and digital trickery.