Fans waiting for a sequel to The Nice Guys may have to hold their breaths. For many, it’s Ryan Gosling’s greatest project. The 2016 comedy stars Gosling and Russell Crowe as two private eyes on an insane investigation. Future installments have been hoped for, but while speaking with ComicBook.com about his role in the upcoming film The Fall Guy, Gosling argued that a sequel to The Nice Guys might not get to happen.
“So much of a sequel, I think, is decided by the opening weekend of a movie, and we opened up against Angry Birds,” Gosling explained, noting the game-tuned movie surpassed box office expectations, saying, “So Angry Birds just, just destroyed us. Angry Birds got a sequel.”
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In a 2023 interview with the KFC Radio podcast, per ComicBook, Crowe joked about the whole film, saying, “We wanted to call it Nice Guys: The Mexican Detectives. Bang! It’s me and Ryan, somehow we’ve got to pretend we’re Mexican detectives.” Before that, director Shane Black revealed that there were plans to spin off the concept into a television show. Those plans never came to fruition.ย
“We tried it as a TV show,” Black shared with /Film back in 2022. “We caught the characters, but the plot was totally different. It was set in present day, and no one wanted to buy it. We had to look elsewhere.”
“[It] wouldn’t have been any good [as a TV series],” Black added. “Tonally, TV tends to homogenize … So if you’ve got something that’s a little odd or twisted, chances are the [network executives are] going to take it and just start … [sanding] off the edges.”
The Nice Guysย earned over $60 million at the box office against a reported $50 million budget. Overall, critics enjoyed the film. It currently has a high approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.ย
