‘Night Has Fallen’: Gerard Butler Is Back To Stab More Guys In The Head With The Fourth ‘Has Fallen’ Movie
Mike Banning is about to be called upon to save the world…again.
Gerard Butlerhas signed on to reprise his role inNight Has Fallen, the upcoming fourth entry in the successfulHas Fallenaction film franchise.Ric Roman Waugh, who directed last year’sAngel Has Fallen, will be back in the director’s chair for this sequel.The Hollywood Reportersays Butler is back to star inNight Has Fallen, which, unfortunately, does not have any plot details listed yet. But we know it will star Butler’s Mike Banning, the former Army Ranger-turned-Secret-Service-agent who has protected multiple fictional presidents and prevented wars on a massive scale.Angel Has Fallenended with Banning becoming the Director of the Secret Service and reconciling with his father, played byNick Nolte, so expect Nolte to appear in this one. And don’t forget about franchise mainstayMorgan Freeman– he’ll likely be back, too.
Millennium Media is introducing the movie at this year’s virtual American Film Market in an attempt to find a distributor. FilmDistrict distributed the first movie, Focus Features handled the second, and Lionsgate took the third.
Personally, when it came to 2013’s inexplicable duel of two “Die Hardin the White House” concepts, I preferredOlympus Has FallentoWhite House Down. I was sort of bowled over by the almost gleeful level of violence on display – Butler stabbing a guy in the head with a giant knife was a particularly memorable moment that has stayed with me and makes me sort of chuckle in disbelief when I think about it. Since then, this franchise has just leaned further into over-the-top depictions of geopolitics and acts of terror, ramping up the ridiculousness and ruffling some feathers in the process.
Waugh, a former stunt performer on films likeRoad House,Total Recall,Universal Soldier,Gone in 60 Seconds, and more, made the proper transition to directing with 2001’sIn the Shadows. Since then, he’s directed films likeFelon,Snitch,Shot Caller, and the Gerard Butler disaster movieGreenland, which skipped theaters and landed on VODlast month. He directedAngel Has Fallen, which was better liked thanLondon Has Fallenbut still not as appreciated asOlympus Has Fallen. PerhapsNight Has Fallenwill restore the franchise to its former glory, or maybe even overtake it.
ScreenwriterRobert Mark Kamen, who worked onAngel Has Fallenand previously wrote films likeThe Karate Kid,The Fifth Element,The Transporter, andTaken, is back to write the screenplay for this sequel. And this probably won’t be the last we see of Butler’s Mike Banning: there are two more moviesenvisioned in the grand plan, along with potential spin-offs and TV shows to boot.
