London Has Fallen, the sequel to Gerard Butler’s turn as a secret service agent in the wrong place at the right time, has secured a release date for 2015. It seems this time, Butler’s character Mike Banning will happen to be protecting the US President while in London for the funeral of the British Prime Minister when the city comes under attack.
Although the original film did not make a huge profit (merely a small one, in fact), Focus Features has set a release date of October 2, 2015 for London Has Fallen. The film will mark its place in a growing list of action hero flicks owing no small part of their existence to the success of Liam Neeson in 2008’s Taken. As Neeson demonstrated (following, perhaps, in the Air Force One-era footsteps of Harrison Ford), a little charisma and action savvy can go a long way.
Butler, let’s remember, starred as the martyr King of Sparta in Zack Snyder’s 300 back in 2006 and cemented his status as a formidable action hero. He has dabbled in romantic comedies with mixed results, like 2012’s flop Playing For Keeps alongside Jessica Biel, and box office hits The Bounty Hunter alongside Jennifer Aniston in 2010 and The Ugly Truth in 2009. He’s also found his way into a few dramas with moderate critical success, playing the titular character in director Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher about real-life drug-dealer turned crusader Sam Childers, and he appeared in war drama Coriolanus opposite Ralph Fiennes.
Action is clearly a genre that seems to like Butler, and it’s not surprising that he and Focus Features will be rolling out another action-packed thriller next year. Currently, no director is set to helm the picture.
Butler’s next appearance will be his voice to be heard later this year in DreamWorks’ animated feature How To Train Your Dragon 2.
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