Disney Is Finally Working on ‘National Treasure 3’

Buried in a Hollywood Reporter article about plans for a Bad Boys 4 (which, okay, fine) is a much more interesting bit of news. Chris Bremner, who is working on Bad Boys 4 and co-wrote the new Bad Boys For Life, is also writing a screenplay for National Treasure 3 — which is urgent and important and hugely exciting.

National Treasure is, of course, the two-film series of the 2000s starring Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, a treasure hunter who gets mixed up in various adventures involved wild conspiracies and famous bits of American history. Part Indiana Jones, part Da Vinci Code, with more than a dash of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, both of the produced films — 2004’s National Treasure and 2007’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets — were big box office hits. A third film never materialized, perhaps because shortly after Book of Secrets the same team made The Sorcerer’s Apprentice for Disney, which turned out to be a flop. In the interim Andy Samberg’s impression of Nicolas Cage on SNL, which was full of references to the National Treasure movies, made the series even more famous.

That was a decade ago. Now, finally, it seems like the National Treasure train is back on track:

Bremner's schedule is heating up as he is also writing National Treasure 3 for Disney, among other projects. That project is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who is also the producer behind Bad Boys for Life. He is repped by Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.

Look, I’m just going to say it: I love the National Treasure movies. I want more of them, and I want Nicolas Cage in them. I want him to kidnap the Lincoln Memorial, and I want him to use it to transport himself to the 2001 Tim Burton Planet of the Apes, and get into an adventure there. Let’s make this happen.