More than 20 years after stealing the Declaration of Independence, National Treasure 3 is in the works.
On Friday, National Treasure (2004) director Jon Turteltaub revealed that a third installment in the Nicolas Cage adventure franchise is in the works with a script that Disney has approved.
“I was thinking about mentioning this tonight, I’ll say it tonight,” he teased during a live recording of the National Treasure Hunt podcast in Philadelphia. “It’s happening. You’re the first people I have said this out loud to.”
Turteltaub continued, “It’s finally real. Now, it’s ‘Hollywood real,’ meaning things can happen. Nic gets hit by a bus, there’s no National Treasure. If I get hit by a bus, there’s probably a National Treasure. Welcome to Hollywood, that’s Hollywood.”
The director, who also helmed the 2007 sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, noted that they “finally have a script that I like,” which Disney has also said “sounds like a movie we can make.”
In National Treasure, Cage stars as historian Ben Gates, who has to steal the Declaration of Independence in order to get the map to an ancient rumored treasure, before his shady colleague Ian (Sean Bean) has the chance to steal it for himself. The movies surpassed $800M at the global box office.
Following the 2007 sequel, Disney+ released the spin-off series National Treasure: Edge of History in 2022, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
