Nicolas Cage’s Biggest Franchise Is Getting Another Movie
Nicolas Cage's National Treasure 3 is in active development, according to Jerry Bruckheimer.
When Nicolas Cage set out to steal the Declaration of Independence in the original National Treasure, he ended up stealing the hearts of audiences worldwide. The film quickly warranted a sequel, but it’s been a long 15 years since we last saw his adventures as Benjamin Franklin Gates on the big screen. In a recent interview with E! News, Jerry Bruckheimer teased that the genre-defying actor Nicolas Cage will return to star in National Treasure 3 and that the film is in development.
Jerry Bruckheimer may have surprised himself by announcing any info on the sequel movie. This info came out as he was mostly discussing developing the spin-off series National Treasure: Edge of History for Disney+.
This news is surprising for many reasons, including the fact that Disney+ recently began streaming a spinoff series called National Treasure: Edge of History. Accordingly, most fans of the franchise had made peace with the idea that we’d be getting new adventures on the smaller screen and starring a different cast. Quite frankly, the idea that we’ll get a proper National Treasure 3 with Nicolas Cage back in the driver’s seat took everyone by surprise!
It’s not yet clear what the plot will be or if Bruckheimer is using the script that Jon Turteltaub previously wrote. This script was intended as a more or less direct sequel to the second National Treasure film, but the lack of funding kept that film from getting made earlier. If a new script is used instead, some fans are worried that, despite the return of Nicolas Cage to National Treasure 3, the universe will be very different from the one they first fell in love with.
Fortunately, there are some reassuring signs to be found in National Treasure: Edge of History. That Disney+ spinoff series has both Harvey Keitel reprising his role as former FBI agent Peter Sadusky and Justin Bartha reprising his role as Riley Poole, partner and friend to Gates. If these familiar faces are popping up in the show, then we wouldn’t be surprised to see their characters and others appear alongside Nicolas Cage in National Treasure 3.
And if you’re still worried about the plot straying too far from the earlier movies, the show also dropped a powerful hint to what Gates and Poole have been up to lately. Poole’s character says that he and Ben had “this super important thing for the last three, four, 15 years” and that “there’s 47 reasons to be interested” in this thing. This is a direct reference to the second movie and the 47th page of the Book of Secrets, so this may tell us what Nicolas Cage, the man who was nearly Superman, will be checking out in National Treasure 3.
Because of hints and references like this, megafans of the franchise have been scouring every episode for more clues as to what Gates has been up to. There are no definitive answers yet, but that helps to keep the mystery fresh. And since the movie will star Nicolas Cage, we’re confident that National Treasure 3 will reveal many mysterious secrets in the craziest possible way.
