Second Reel: The Man from UNCLE (2015) Deserves a Sequel

- December 05, 2018

Posted by Kaitlyn Booth December 4, 2018

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a 2015 movie adaptation of the classic television show of the same name that ran for 105 episodes from 1965 to 1968. In the age of reboots and considering how well the Mission: Impossible franchise did the jump from television to film, it isn’t surprising that they decided to give this one a try. There weren’t any stylized and old-school James Bond series at the time which is a niche that needed to be filled. It’s another project that fell into development hell with plenty of big names rumored to be interested in the project before it eventually fell to Guy Ritchie. He then decided to bring on Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, and Alicia Vikander.

Unfortunately for the production, it seemed that timing was just not on their side. Warner Bros. decided to push the movie into mid-August which is an infamous dead zone for movie releases. It ended up in third place that month, losing to Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and the surprise hit Straight out of Compton. This was before Hammer or Vikdander picked up the roles that would net them Academy Award nominations, so the biggest “draw” was Cavill, even though his version of Superman is not universally beloved. The movie ended up bombing pretty hard with a $109 million dollar worldwide box office on a budget of $75-$84 million. Since budgets don’t include marketing, it is estimated that the movie lost Warner Bros. up to $80 million.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. did not do well with its first movie but the combined pedigree of the cast, the director, and if Warner Bros. gives it a reasonable budget there is no reason we couldn’t see another entry in this franchise.

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