Continuing the tradition of making to sequels of just about anything, Ron Howard’s firefighter thriller Backdraft is happening 27 years after the original. Unlike Tron, Star Wars, or Indiana Jones, the appetite for a Backdraft sequel hasn’t really been there on account of it being a self-contained movie. Starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, and Robert DeNiro, Backdraft was a sterling thriller from director Ron Howard. Two Chicago firefighter estranged brothers (Russell and Baldwin), are forced to work together to stop a deadly arsonist. While it might sound cheesy, Backdraft is a movie, and it totally still holds up.
The sequel will feature William Baldwin reprising his role as Brian McCaffrey, here’s how Slash Film describes the potential plot;
“The film is tentatively titled Backdraft II and will reportedly follow the grown son of Kurt Russell’s character, an investigator with the Chicago F.D. who still holds his uncle (Baldwin) responsible for the death of his father. The villains this time around are a group of agents who are attempting to sneak a missile out of the country, using a series of deadly fires as a distraction.”
Production is due to start over the summer with Apollo 18 (not a sequel to Ron Howard’s Apollo 13) Gonzalo López-Gallego directing. There are no details on a potential release date, but while we’re on that subject, you should probably sit down.
Before you start planning a group event with all your friends to see Backdraft 2 at the cinema, the belated sequel will most likely be heading straight to DVD/VOD. As you can tell, I have a lot of love for Backdraft, it’s a solid movie from one of the safest pair of hands working in Hollywood. I say that as high praise, aside from that Kevin James/Vince Vaughn ‘comedy’, and the Dan Brown adaptations, you always know you’re going to get something decent with Howard. Disney clearly agrees as they hired him to complete work on Solo after Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired.
There have been plenty of firefighter movies and TV shows over the years, I’m not sure we need a Backdraft 2: Still Backdrafting (not the title). Be that as it may, we didn’t need Kindergarten Cop 2, Jarhead 2, any of the American Pie Presents offerings, Starship Troopers 3, Tremors 2,3,4,5,6, Lost Boys 2 & 3, and all the other DTV sequels nobody asked to exist.
