It’s been almost two decades since the last National Treasure movie hit theaters, and since then, fans have been eager for more historical adventures with Ben Gates. Well, the wait might finally be over soon.
While speaking with the National Treasure Hunt podcast in Philadelphia on Friday night, franchise director Jon Turteltaub revealed that a third installment in the Nicolas Cage-led adventure franchise is in the works with a script that Disney has approved. “I was thinking about mentioning this tonight; I’ll say it tonight,” he teased during a live recording of the podcast. “It’s happening. You’re the first people I have said this out loud to.”
It’s finally real. Now, it’s ‘Hollywood real,’ meaning things can happen. Nic gets hit by a bus, there’s no National Treasure. If I get hit by a bus, there’s probably a National Treasure. Welcome to Hollywood, that’s Hollywood.
I finally have a script that I like, which Disney has also said sounds like a movie we can make.
Jon Turteltaub
Chris Bremner (Bad Boys for Life, Bad Boys: Ride or Die) has penned the latest draft of the script, and from what I heard is the script that won Disney execs over. Ted Elliott, who wrote the first two National Treasure films and the first four Pirates of the Caribbean films, also wrote a draft.
National Treasure Franchise
Released in 2004, National Treasure followed Ben Gates (Cage) and his team (Justin Bartha and Diane Kruger) as they race to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries. The film grossed $347 million at the worldwide box office. This led Disney to release a sequel titled Book of Secrets, which brought Cage, Bartha, and Krueger back and added Helen Mirren and Ed Harris to the cast. The sequel grossed an astounding $447 million worldwide. Discussions of a third have taken place since, but nothing ever materialized.
In 2022, a spinoff Disney series titled National Treasure: Edge of History, which followed a brilliant 20-year-old puzzle solver named Jess Valenzuela who embarks on an adventure to find a lost Pan-American treasure and uncover the truth about her family’s past, debuted to generally mixed reviews from critics. It was among the ten most-streamed original programs in the U.S. from its first week, before it reached the top 5 in its later weeks. Despite bringing back franchise stars Bartha and Harvey Keitel in guest appearances, the series was cancelled after just one season.
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