Backdraft, from director Ron Howard, with an all-star cast including Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Donald Sutherland, was released in 1991 to a solid run at the box office, with praise for its special effects and it now holds 74% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Suprisingly (though maybe it shouldn’t be), this is the latest film to receive the Legacy-sequel treatment, joining the ranks of Creed and Star Wars. It is being reported that Backdraft 2 is officially in pre-production (which certainly doesn’t preclude it from being mothballed), and that previous star William Baldwin is signed on.
Further to the above, Backdraft 2 even seems to have a director, with Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego being courted by Universal to take on the project. Gonzalo has a few projects under his belt, the most recent being a western released in 2016 called ‘The Hollow Point’.
A lot of this doesn’t exactly scream major release project…..the sequel is supposedly based around the grown up son of Kurt Russell’s character from the original film, though details are scarce.
Backdraft 2 doesn’t currently have a release date, and it’s easy to be skeptical of this, but given Creed turned out such a great and well received film, maybe we should wait and see what happens with turning Backdraft into a franchise.
