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The box-office, while exceeding cynical expectations, hasn’t exactly made it into sequel territory (I’m guessing around $400 million) and with the poor critical reception and the hubbub about the racial politics of Edgar Rice Burrough’s stories there’s been a real feeling of negativity surrounding the film. The one hope is that audiences have generally been positive about it ( A- cinemascore) but positive word of mouth hasn’t exactly inspired much interest/discussion in another Tarzan story.

I think another question is, given all this transpiring, would Yates and his team really be invested in making another film? When critics dragged it so harshly and most think-pieces were around the character’s relevance in the modern media given all the old baggage, would it really be something a film-making team would want to go through again? That might deter going ahead with another script even if the numbers pull through. I think there’s an extra sting that the script really did try to produce a modern updated Tarzan and it still wasn’t enough to rescue it from the cynics.

So: what is the real likelihood of a follow-up film? Especially one where, given the considerations of Legend’s box-office performance, might have its budget cut-back somewhat (less potential for extended visual effects scenes, less impressive sets, cast members reconsidering if their pay is less) and there’s the anxiety of another media circus surrounding Tarzan’s historical roots in the white saviour trope and some of ERB’s more unfortunate writings (example: black people lack the imagination of white people)? I mean, does David Yates really want to be that “director who made a Tarzan film long after his supposed relevance, then ignored everybody pointing out all Tarzan’s problems and went and made another problematic film” as that seems like a harmful career/artistic move.

Dunno. I liked the film, but my hopes for a solid follow-up aren’t high now.

Thanks for starting this.  I think it's time.  I'm pretty much on the same page you are -- when I try to be positive about it, I think, well, it's earned anough to justify a sequel if it could be done a little less expensively. But then . . . I  really wonder how much appetite WB will have for a sequel when the very idea of Tarzan--never mind the actual movie itself--sends about 1/3 of the critics and a bunch of other social commentary writers into fits of apoplexy.   I keep thinking -- how could a sequel concept (the creatives) thread the needle so as to avoid all this or outwit it?  I know that's putting the cart before the horse a little . . . but then again, maybe not.  For a sequl to happen, someone on the creative end (Yates, mainly) would almost certainly need to start agitating and that agitation would need to include a story and that story would almost certainly need to be structured in a way that defeats the avalanche of racism/imperialism criticism.   I know they already have a plotline in mind -- but does it sufficiently avoid the problems?

I do think WB has given signals that they have already moved on a bit.  They really didn't try to squeeze the last few million out of the box office, for example -- i.e. they didn't hold onto theaters like they could have.  I put it up against a number of other films with similar characteristics (opening weekend, cinemascore, genre, etc) and there has definitely been a precipitous drop in theaters compared to the norm.

I wasn't aware there had been an unconventional drop in its theater numbers. That's disappointing. I think the real question from the creative end is whether Yates would want to return for sequel with less budget, less potential for scope and effects, and a studio possibly more invested in the early processes to navigate this summer's controversy (and given the studio's alleged interference with Suicide Squad and the problems that has supposedly caused, is that something Yates would want to go through?). There seems less than enticing reasons to go ahead.

I imagine Yates' focus has entirely moved on from this film and is focused on his next features, probably to keep his mental health up as much as anything. I don't imagine this was an experience he'd want to revisit too soon, the critical panning came as a real surprise to me, and I imagine to him as well, given the audience testings went down pretty well.

I think Tarzan is done as far as live action goes. I think we'll just get more animated stuff like the upcoming Netflix Tarzan & Jane show, but apart from that, I don't see them going live action again, not for a good while. Of course, the animated stuff is not likely to be ERB's Tarzan...

Sobering thoughts all . . .....I think I feel that it's a long shot and the only thing that could really make a difference would be some kind of a creative "silver bullet" -- meaning a concept that that would really slay the critics, both in terms of social commentary (racism/colonialism) and regular criticism (character arcs, yada yada).  It would need to be something that is an absolute conversation changer at the pitch level.  I have some ideas but not fully formed -- and it would still be a longshot. But what it can't be is to expect Yates to go forward with a continuation of the same story setup that got him blasted by the critics.......what could it be?  I think, for example, somehow it can't just be the bad King Leopold that Tarzan is in conflict with. . . . .I think that even the supposedly benign British version of colonialism would have to be subjected to negative scrutiny and Tarzan could not be a proponent of that kind of supposedly benign paternalism -- which in turn would mean a deviation from the books, since Tarzan was never in conflict with British colonialism.  But he could, for example, find himself opposing the brits on something like the "rescue of Emin Pasha", which happened in 1888 so is kinda sorta in the right time frame......Anyway, the point is that without some kind of brilliant creative strategy to defeat the social and movie critics--it's hard to see any push for a sequel getting off the ground. And who will champion it?  I don't think Yates is going to be inclined to do so unless there is a really compelling creative opportunity -- and it's hard to envision that happening, what with the need for more budget constraints and the critics waiting with long knives drawn. It's a lot easier for him to just move on. Ugh.  Not a pretty picture.

You know -- one thought I keep having is this. If it hadn't been for Jerry Weintraub doggedly pursuing this for 13 years, it almost certainly never would have happened because between 2002 when they started, and say 2010, the idea of Tarzan probably lost 30% of its attractiveness due to the continued societal evolution toward where we are today. In other words, an idea that sound okay (a new Tarzan) in 2002, sound a lot less okay in 2012, but was kept alive by Weintraub.  And this in turn kind of explains how, by the time it reached theaters, WB was not exactly stalwartly (is that a word?) behind it.  And now they have moved on.

Still . . . movies get made in large part because there is passion for them to be made  from a producer, a director, or fans of the material.  It ain't over til it's over.  But it's a very heavy lift.

Aw man, this is all pretty depressing to think about. Despite it, though, I'm still going to stay positive and keep my fingers crossed for a sequel. You never know, it may yet happen. 🙂

I'm fighting off the sense of "it won't happen" -- I think it's just "it won't happen easily".......hell, it wasn't easy to get the first film to happen.....why should the sequel be easy?

If Tarzan continues as a character, it'll be interesting to see what direction creatives will try to take him. For a minority of fans, Yates 'ruined' the character again by not bringing him, with ERB's full-on problematic notion of Dominant White Man who murders African people and wildlife, to the screen. For most, it was satisfying, give or take a few quibbles. Based on the critical response the film would have needed to have moved even further from ERB's texts than it already did. Tarzan's future, if he has one, won't be adapting the books directly, or making films that keep closer to them. It'll be in further efforts to modernize him, amend the white-saviour aspects, and then try to sell it.

It's a noble ambition. And a tough one. David Yates and Adam Cozad tried. They weren't quite successful across the board - not with the critics, at any rate. You'd need a really radical interpretation, I'd think, but that risks losing and disappointing the fans of ERB Tarzan. So I really dunno...