In 2018 Aneesh Chaganty made his directorial debut with the thriller film Searching, starring John Cho. the films sequel, Missing, now has a release date from Screen Gems. Missing, which is described only as “the next installment in the Searching franchise,” stars Storm Reid and Nia Long. The film is scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on February 24, 2023.
Searching was an off-beat and creative film; a U.S./Russia co-production, the film stars John Cho as a father working with a police detective portrayed by Debra Messing in order to find his missing 16-year-old daughter (Michelle La). The film is presented entirely from the web camera, tablet, and cell phone camera’s of desperate father David Kim (Cho), and detective Vick (Debra Messing). While David sleuths through his daughters social media uncovering small details looking for clues, he discovers his daughter has become something of a recluse. On the way David discovers that detective Vick may know more about the case than she let on.
The film was a critical and box office success making 75.5 million against a 880,000 dollar budget. Critics especially praised the performance of leading man John Cho, and the films experimental, almost found footage presentation. This is a style known as screen life, which involves visual storytelling told entirely from the perspective of Computer, phone, and tablet cameras. The first notable success for the style is the 2014 film Unfriended, produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Bekmambetov told comicbook.com “Searching is so far the most successful movie shot in the Screen life format and the sequel is set to become a new milestone.” With Cho as its star, the film also holds the distinction of being the first major American studio thriller to be headlined by an actor of Asian descent.
Details of Missing’s plot have not been revealed at this time, a trailer hasn’t even been released but what is known is that the film is a standalone sequel, which means that it takes place in the previous films universe, but isn’t reliant on the previous film for its plot. We also know that the film stars and stars Storm Reid, Nia Long, and Joaquim de Almeida, and is directed and written by Nick Johnson and Will Merrick, from a story by Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty. Given how creative the original film was, there is no doubt audiences will be excited to see where Bekmambetov, and Johnson take this series of films.
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