Universal have announced (with very few people actually expecting it) that the 2003 British comedy starring Rowan Atkinson (of Mr Bean fame) and Natalie Imbruglia is due to be spawning a sequel, with shooting starting in August, I assume this will be released early next year.

The original adventure comedy opened to mixed reviews but was internationally successful at the box office, making $161 million around the world (plus DVD sales, I own a copy!) and I can only ponder a guess that Atkinson has little do at the moment and Universal have decided to shoe in on a franchise to announce this (almost pointless) sequel.
As a fan of the first film, I am about as clueless as the rest of us as to why a second is being made. As we have already seen from Rowan Atkinson, his comedy creations are down to perfect timing and over the top gesture and posture. Just look at Mr Bean, the innocent man who hardly talks captured the imaginations of so many for years. The first film, released in 1997, ‘Bean’ was a success, unlike it’s sequel in 2007, ‘Mr Bean’s Holiday’ written by Hamish McColl who is to penn Johnny English 2.

Johnny English starred Atkinson and Imbruglia alongside John Malkovich and Ben Miller (who has not been asked to reprise his role of ‘Bough’) and placed Atkinson in the middle of typical spy situations but was a complete parody on the world of British spies like James Bond. The film was genuinely funny despite being non-sensical and this was what many critics pointed out.

St Trinian’s director Oliver Parker is also behind the film as well as ‘X Files’ star Gillian Anderson according to Deadline. She will be playing MI7 agent, Pamela Head, in the film backed by Working Title. Very few other details have been released about the film but we will have to wait and see whether this is one sequel too far (and this would not be the first!).

With releases such as Toy Story 3, Shrek Forever After, Sex and the City 2 and Iron Man 2,one really does have to question where the original ideas have gone and whether film has become so much of a business as oppose to a genuine entertainment industry that production companies are more interested in the $$$ rather than criticism and audience reaction. We will have to wait till next year to see how this pans out…