A couple of weeks ago an autumn shoot was announced for Magic Mike 2 – which is now known as Magic Mike XXL – with Gregory Jacobs directing. However at the time it wasn’t clear when we’d actually get to see the movie.
Now a July 3rd, 2015 US release date has been announced, according to ERCBoxOffice. That will pit the movie against Terminator: Genesis, which opens on July 1st, 2015. However as they’re very different film, they probably won’t cannibalise each other’s box office too much.
Channing Tatum is currently co-writing the script with his Magic Mike collaborator Reid Carolin. He also recently spoke to MTV, where he told them, “[We started writing] probably like two months ago. With my partner Reid I was like, ‘Ah it’ll write itself, it’s fine’ – not the case. Not the case at all.”
He adds of the cast, “I think everyone’s gonna be back, I think. Obviously no one’s deals are done which is always kind of scary.” Therefore assuming everything works back Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello, Alex Pettyfer and Matthew Bomer will all return.
As for the plot, he says, “This one will be a road trip movie. Without giving a lot away, we don’t wanna make it a really serious, slice-of-life movie. We want to have reality in it, but we don’t want to make it some dark drama. There was some darkness in the last one that I think surprised people and shocked people. This one, we want there to be a lot of conflict and a lot of struggle, but we also want there to be a shit-ton of fun. A shit-ton of just ridiculous stuff that you would never see in a movie.”
Magic Mike became a surprise hit in 2012, earning $167 million worldwide from just a $7 million production budget.