Lethal Weapon 5 is likely to go straight to streaming rather than a traditional theatrical release, recent reports on the action sequel have claimed. Following the announcement that Mel Gibson will both direct and star in Lethal Weapon 5, reports have stated that the highly anticipated sequel will “be developed for HBO Max as the service continues to build up its slate of feature films that would premiere on the streamer.”
The last time audiences spent time with Riggs and Murtaugh was way, way back in 1998’s Lethal Weapon 4, with the movie grossing more than $285 million at the box office. Clearly, HBO Max are confident that they can continue the success of the franchise without a big screen release, using the iconic property to further increase their streaming output. This move towards a streaming release for Lethal Weapon 5 does not come as too much of a surprise, with the ongoing global situation pushing many tentpole releases out of theaters and into our homes thanks to the emergence of a wide variety of platforms, each of them striving to be the best.
The first Lethal Weapon introduced audiences to the loveable pair of mismatched LAPD detectives, Martin Riggs, a former Green Beret who has become suicidal following the death of his wife, and Roger Murtaugh, a 50-year-old veteran of the force who is getting too old for this. Played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover respectively, the duo became instant icons of the genre, with the franchise spawning several sequels and bringing in the likes of Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Jet Li, and Chris Rock along the way.
The plan for Lethal Weapon 5 was to have original director Richard Donner return to the director’s chair after all these years. Sadly, Donner passed away in July this year at the age of 91, with previous reports stating that the filmmaker’s death would bring an end to development on the fifth sequel. Over the weekend though, Mel Gibson proved these reports wrong, revealing during the Q&A at ‘An Experience with Mel Gibson’ in London that he would in fact take the helm. “The man who directed all the Lethal films, Richard Donner, he was a big guy,” Gibson said at the event. “He was developing the screenplay and he got pretty far along with it. And he said to me one day, ‘Listen kid, if I kick the bucket you will do it.’ And I said: ‘Shut up.’ But he did indeed pass away.”
He continued, revealing that Mel Gibson would indeed follow-through on Donner’s request. “But he did ask me to do it and at the time I didn’t say anything,” the actor said. “He said it to his wife and to the studio and the producer. So I will be directing the fifth one.”
While nothing is yet known about the plot, Richard Wenk, screenwriter of The Equalizer, is on board to pen the latest draft of the screenplay. Lethal Weapon 5 does not yet have a release date, but expect to hear updates of the HBO Max release in future. This comes to us from Deadline.
Source: movieweb.com