Nicolas Cage may be pretty dismissive of the idea of a new National Treasure movie ever being released (and also about Disney as a source of enchantment), but according to the franchise’s longtime producer, National Treasure 3 is basically already on its way to theaters.
The National Treasure franchise was one of the Walt Disney Company’s biggest hits of the early 2000s, with the first film grossing an impressive $347 million in 2004. The sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), did even better, pulling in $459 million at the global box office. Then Iron Man (2008) burst onto the big screen a year later and Disney found itself with a lot less appetite for original premise franchises after CEO Bob Iger negotiated the $4 billion purchase of Marvel Studios.
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The National Treasure premise was anchored by Nicolas Cage, who portrayed treasure hunter and historian Benjamin Franklin Gates. Cage had previously delivered iconic/meme-ready performances prior to National Treasure in movies like Moonstruck (1987) and Con Air (1997), but the family-friendly adventure vibe of the Disney franchise made him a star on an entirely different level. Justin Bartha and Harvey Keitel were there too.
The rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, combined with the massive box office flop that was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), seemed to close any notion of National Treasure 3. Then, Disney+ came along, and the Mouse House greenlit National Treasure: Edge of History, a streaming sequel series that featured an entirely new cast of largely young actors and appearances from Justin Bartha and Harvey but no Nicolas Cage. It was canceled after one season, further demonstrating Disney’s apparent lack of faith in the franchise.
For his part, Nicolas Cage has been extremely dismissive of the idea of National Treasure 3. In a recent interview, Cage irritably shot down the idea, as well as Screenrant itself, saying, “Here we go! See, you’re the one that brings these things up, and they go out, and they eclipse everything else. No, there is no National Treasure 3. If you want to find treasure, don’t look at Disney, okay? It’s not there.”
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However, longtime National Treasure producer (who is also behind the resurgent Bad Boys franchise and claims Pirates of the Caribbean is coming back) Jerry Bruckheimer begs to differ. He told MovieWeb, “Well, we hope there’s a National Treasure 3 . We’ve been working on it for quite a while. We have a brilliant writer working on it right now, so hopefully, if we get a script in a timely fashion, we’ll send it to Nic [Cage] and if he likes it, we’ll make another one. We certainly would like to.”
That’s a far more optimistic take than Nicolas Cage’s and indicates that, regardless of the series cancelation by Disney, he is actively working on getting National Treasure 3 made and in theaters. Considering Bad Boys 4 just released a trailer, Jerry Bruckheimer might actually make it happen.
Do you think Nicolas Cage will return for National Treasure 3? Let us know in the comments below!