In this age of Hollywood’s revival of old series, whether through complete reboots or distant sequels, one franchise that seems to be remaining stagnant is Charlie’s Angels following the exploits of three female spies or ‘Angels’ who work for the private intelligence group Townsend Agency under their anonymous boss Charlie. The series was popular in the 1970s and saw a successful resurgence in the early 00s with the Charlie’s Angels feature film starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, but attempts since then to continue the franchise haven’t been met with success.
In a discussion with Variety to promote her new film Presence, Liu was asked whether Sony Pictures may attempt a third Charlie’s Angels that would reunite her, Barrymore and Diaz after the 2019 Charlie’s Angels, which was only loosely connected to the films Liu starred in and featured a whole new cast of Angels, suffered from poor reviews and box office returns. Despite Charlie’s Angels and its sequel Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle being some of the trio’s most famous work in their filmography, Liu doubts a third film with them will ever come to fruition.
“I honestly don’t know how that’s going to be feasible,” Liu told Variety. “There have been so many iterations, even after the fact … In some ways, it’s such a strange thing to think about it. Times have changed so much since then.”
She continued by contrasting the time of the early 00s to now where women didn’t get much spotlight in films and how that has improved with multiple films featuring women front and center and behind the camera, such as the case with Barbie or The Marvels.
“At that time, when we were doing publicity, they had never before had three women on a magazine cover. They didn’t even know how to do it. It was such a strange thing for women to collaborate and be seen as colleagues and friends. It was such a big moment in time, and now it’s shifted. Even when I was doing ‘Ally McBeal,’ there had never been a lead woman in that way. There was Mary Tyler Moore and things like that, but the focus has changed. I’m not in charge of that, but I always enjoy the time that I have and then I move on. I never really dwell on anything like that. But I really would be shocked if that happened.”
Both Charlie’s Angels and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle were successful at the box office, earning more than $500 worldwide. Sony wanted to make a third and fourth film, but was unable to and future plans saw the franchise diminish after a 2011 TV reboot of Charlie’s Angels starring Annie Ilonzeh, Rachel Taylor and Minka Kelly was cancelled after only seven episodes and the 2019 film directed by Elizabeth Banks and featured Naomi Scott, Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska failed to reinvigorate the franchise in a new direction.
SEE ALSO: Kristen Stewart on 2019’s Charlie’s Angels: “I hated making that movie”
Meanwhile, the Charlie’s Angels trio are busy themselves as Liu will be seen next in Steven Soderbergh’s Presence at Sundance, Barrymore hosts her own morning talk show and Diaz is returning from a near-decade hiatus away from the camera after semi-retiring.
Would you like to see a third Charlie’s Angels with Liu, Diaz and Barrymore? What do you want the franchise to do next? Let us know on our social channels at @FlickeringMyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
