It sure takes an eternity for the elusive National Treasure 3 to get a green light. But not anymore, after franchise director Jon Turteltaub recently confirmed during Philadelphia’s National Treasure podcast via World of Reel that the long-awaited third National Treasure installment is finally happening. He told the hosts Aubrey Paris and Emily Black that it’s “Hollywood real”, even jokingly stating, “If Nic (Nicolas Cage) gets hit by a bus, there’s no National Treasure 3”, but “if [he] gets hit by a bus, there’s probably a National Treasure 3.”
He also said that the script is ready, which he and Disney like. And the good news is that he added, “to whatever extent we can, everyone’s back”, and this includes Cage reprising his iconic treasure hunter and historian role as Benjamin Franklin Gates.
Why National Treasure 3 Spent Nearly 20 Years in Development Hell
No doubt that getting National Treasure 3 off the ground has been an incredibly bumpy journey, lasting decades of setbacks. The last movie – National Treasure: Book of Secrets – made serious box-office numbers after grossing $459 million worldwide on a $130 million budget back in 2007, proving the audiences continued to enjoy the action-adventure franchise.
Such a hit would have paved the way for a guaranteed third movie, but Disney chose to pivot to other IPs that could help them generate more profit. This is especially true after they acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009 and later Lucasfilm in 2012, costing them a whopping $8.3 billion. National Treasure 3 was subsequently put on the back burner as the studio allocated huge budgets for superhero movies and Star Wars, especially given the two IPs’ already pre-existing larger fanbases and multi-movie potential.
It didn’t help either when the script underwent several iterations over the years, beginning with Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) completing their first draft in 2010. But Disney executives weren’t satisfied with the result. As the studio shifted its corporate strategy, it wasn’t until a few years later that they enlisted in-house writers and script doctors to revise Bernard and Miro’s original draft, but still couldn’t crack a story as epic as the first two movies.
Then came Chris Bremner, who wrote Bad Boys for Life, and was given the chance to come up with a brand-new script that would bring back the original cast. Everything seemed to be going well, and even producer Jerry Bruckheimer liked it before the global pandemic struck, bringing Hollywood and everything to a standstill.
The Disney+ Spinoff Without Nicolas Cage Got Cancelled After One Season
With movie theaters forced to close for months, Disney had to make a calculated decision by redirecting the IP to the Disney+ streaming service. The result was National Treasure: Edge of History, a 10-episode series that introduced a new protagonist, played by Lisette Olivera as Jess Valenzuela.
Nicolas Cage’s absence was glaringly obvious, even though the series brought back two characters from the movies, including Peter Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) and Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) as guest stars. It premiered to mixed reviews between December 2022 and February 2023, and the series eventually got cancelled after only one season.
How National Treasure 3 Finally Got Back on Track
Disney then brought in Ted Elliott, best known for his work on Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean, to help rework Bremner’s draft in 2024 before the latter gave it a final polish into a workable shooting script. Both Elliott and Bremner would receive respective screenwriting and story credits.
The National Treasure film franchise has unearthed over $806 million, with the first 2004 movie alone raking in $347.5 million on a $100 million budget. These two movies may have been heavily compared to Indiana Jones, but they have their own charms, thanks to Nicolas Cage’s committed performance. And not to forget the high-stakes premises integrating real history with historical lore and fascinating puzzles, from the Declaration of Independence to the underground vault of Trinity Church, the missing pages of John Wilkes Booth’s diary, and the U.S. President’s book of secrets hidden in the Library of Congress.
At the time of writing, no official release date has been announced for National Treasure 3.
Both National Treasure and its sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and National Treasure: Edge of History are currently streaming exclusively on Disney+.
