'Den of Thieves' Director Reveals Ambitious Plans for Multiple Sequels
Back in 2018, Den of Thieves arrived to relatively little fanfare. Starring Gerard Butler, the film received mixed reviews and was sometimes compared to the iconic 1995 film Heat. But the film made a respectable $80 million at the box office, and then, the thieves went away to their den for a while. Now, at the start of 2025, the unexpected sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera has smashed the box office, and is currently fighting with Mufasa, Sonic, and Moana 2 for dominance. In terms of movies for grown-ups, Den of Thieves 2 is currently number one.
But, will we have to wait another seven years for Den of Thieves 3? The short answer is: probably not. Turns out, director Christian Gudegast has several installments of the franchise already planned out, and hopes to get the next movie will get made very soon.
In a new interview with Collider, Gudegast said: "We have many, many of these to go. The next one's already ready to go, and then 4 and 5 are already mapped out simply because of the amount of material to come across and where we want to take these characters."
So, proving any haters wrong, Den of Thieves 2 is not an afterthought sequel. Instead, Gudegast has been hoping and planning to make a sequel to the first film since the beginning. In fact, he knew that Den of Thieves could be a bigger series very early in his research process. In the same interview, he said he knew "right away" that the first film wasn't going to be "a one-off."
As of right now, Den of Thieves 2 has made about $20 million at the box office, against its budget of $40 million. So, it's going to need some legs before there's any fast-track talk of a sequel. That said, it's early days. The movie just came out last weekend and is gaining word-of-mouth praise. In most ways, the new film exceeded the first movie, partly because it doesn't seem connected to homaging old crime or action movies. With the dynamic pairing of O'Shea Jackson Jr. with Gerard Butler, and plenty of fast and furious scenes, one wonders if the Den franchise could give Vin Diesel and the gang a run for their money.