After a surprising $40 million gross in only two weeks, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series is on its way to becoming a movie franchise. Fox 2000 announced Friday morning that a sequel, taken from the second book in the series, has gotten the green light on production. Following the Rodrick Rules book in the series, the new movie will give audiences a peek into the second year of middle school for Greg, his friends, and enemies as a talent show is mounted.
Scriptwriters Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah will be returning to the project, as well as producer Nina Jacobson and star Zachary Gordon. Author Jeff Kinney will again factor heavily in the development of this installment, just as he did with the first movie. Director Thor Freudenthal hasn’t been ruled out, but is not expected to direct the sequel at this point, owing to multiple projects brewing.
Being a preteen movie, there is some urgency to the decision here. Aging actors can be a death knell for franchises like this when characters suddenly develop deeper voices and lose their childlike features. With that in mind Rodrick Rules may well be in theaters come this time next year. The studio has options on all five of the books in the series, and the main actors are already signed, so that expedites the process somewhat.
Let’s just hope the next movie in the series allows for more character development than the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.
