Fifteen years ago, Matt Damon and Edward Norton didn’t have any idea that they were about to change the game of poker forever. Now, in 2013, the two well-known actors are ready to take the poker world by storm yet again.
According to deadline.com, Damon and Norton will once again play characters Mike McDermott and Lester “Worm” Murphy in a sequel to the famous poker movie “Rounders.” Miramax announced that the sequel will finally be made two months after screenwriters David Levien and Brian Koppleman confirmed finishing the plot for the continuation of the story that began in a New York underground poker room.
This time, the story will leave its American roots and go international. Rounders 2 will be filmed in Paris, but will also feature the famous Sin City – Las Vegas. Unfortunately for John Malkovich fans, there won’t be any Teddy KGB involved in the sequel. A new villain will replace Malkovich’s character and the producers are targeting 70-year-old Robert de Niro.
The budget for the new film has yet to be discussed but almost certainly will be bigger than the original film. The 1998 Rounders had a budget of $12 million and grossed $8.5 million during its opening weekend. Eventually, it made $22,912,409 domestically.
The sequel has what it takes to become much more popular than the original version. In a period when poker was not played at such a large scale professionally, Rounders ranked 80 in the top 1998 movies in domestic gross revenue. Now, after 15 years and a massive online poker boom, Rounders 2 is set to become a box-office success.
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