“My prediction and my fear is you will see 'National Treasure 3' on [Disney's] streaming platform.”
“I feel it deserves the big movie treatment, and I'll make a [ton] more money if it's a movie, so [I don't like] streaming.”On the cast returning:
“We'll probably all say 'yes' because we love it and each other so much. But you got to hit everybody on the right week.”More:
“How do you not make another movie when the movies leading up to it are all internet memes?”
“When National Treasure first got made, there was a lot more money to go around. Everybody got paid nicely. The problem with getting the third one made isn’t the people who are getting paid saying, 'I’m not doing it unless you pay me a lot!' It’s really that Disney feels they have other films they want to make that they think will make them more money. I think they’re wrong. I think they’re right about the movies they’re making; they’re obviously doing a really good job at making great films. I just think this would be one of them, and they don’t quite realize how much the Internet is begging for a third National Treasure.”
“The script was close, but not so great that the studio couldn’t say yes. But it’s been good enough that the studio could have said, 'Yes, keep going. Get closer.' [Producer] Jerry Bruckheimer is the master of taking something that’s good enough and turning it into something great in about an hour and a half. It’s a little nerve-wracking but it works.”
“I do know that those scripts are very difficult to write, because there has to be some credibility in terms of the facts and fact-checking, because it was relying on historical events. And then you have to make it entertaining. I know that it’s been a challenge to get the script where it needs to be. That’s as much as I’ve heard. But they’re still working on it.”
“We have done two, and yes they were really fine movies. I know Jerry Bruckheimer who produced them has had conversations with our studio a number of times about it, and there have been some developments along the way, but as of right now we have not green-lit as we say, a National Treasure 3. But I do know there is time and some resources spent on development. That's all I can tell ya.”
"There is discussion about [National Treasure 3], and we all want to do it, everybody all the... all the elements, all the auspices want to make the movie, it's just that unlike some of the other movies, where you can pretty much... like the pirates ones you can pretty much write anything you want because it's fantasy, the national treasure movies have to be historically accurate, they have to be authentic, otherwise it doesn't work, and that takes a little more thought to put that together, and that's what they're working on now."
"Those are the hardest movies to make because they’re all based on clues. It’s so difficult to work them out. But, we got a first act in [on Friday], and Jon [Turteltaub] was very excited about it and I’m very excited about it. Hopefully, the first act will lead into the second act and the third act, and we’ll get this thing going."
"If you can write the script, we’ll take it! It’s so [exceptionally] hard to write a great historical mystery based on fact. It’s not for lack of trying. We want to do the movie. Disney wants to do the movie. We’re just having [a difficult] time, writing it."
"I’ll bet that within two years, we’ll be shooting that movie."
"We’re closer. I’d say we’re about half-way there. It’s not only writing a great historical mystery, but we’ve gotta write something that has nothing to do with anything we’ve done before. The goal is to always have an original sequel, as silly as that sounds. We really want to make sure that the third one doesn’t just feel like a repeat of the first one, or one too many."