Is Austin Powers 4 Still Happening? (1 Viewer)

Yes the franchise has become a bit too silly in the third installment, but it's a bit mind blowing that a series as successful as AP doesn't seem to be on the fast track for another sequel.

Mike Myers seems to love the character and has said he'd be back and I can't really see a problem with getting any of the supporting people back either.

What's the deal here? I heard a few years ago the working title was Austin Powers: For Your Thighs Only (lol), but since then I've heard nothing. It just seems weird the studio wouldn't be pushing ahead with something that is a for-sure money maker.

Bottom line, Myers priced himself out of the franchise. New Line wasn't interested in paying the actor the $25 million-plus salary, on top of his 20% piece of the profits. Much like what happened with the "Men in Black" series at Sony. It wasn't cost effective to have both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the movie at $20 million-plus apiece.

Other than the first "Wayne's World", Myers' box office record in live-action features has been spotty. "The Cat in the Hat" was supposed to turn into a big money franchise, but it struggled to get to $101 million domestically at a total cost of more than $150 million (counting marketing costs).

The Austin Powers movies made New Line millions, but it just got to a point where they weren't worth the expense (in the minds of the studio execs) because Mike Myers commanded so much of the profits. They figured the third movie was a good place to stop.

DreamWorks can continue doing many Shrek features with Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz because each is only paid about $5 million for their voice work. They get small pieces of the percentage pie, but DreamWorks commands most of the profits.

Still, even if you're giving Myers $20 million + a nice percentage deal ... you gotta figure AP movies really don't cost anywhere close to say the usual summer tent pole movie to make and the rest of the cast can be signed for peanuts (I doubt Verne Troyer is really swimming in work).

True, but New Line execs will probably be more willing to give Myers a fat payday if he were headlining other big hits movies outside of the Shrek series. If next summer's "The Love Guru" is a big success, than the studio will probably be more willing to do a fourth AP flick.

It may be that New Line didn't want to be the only studio in town giving Mike Myers a 20/20 deal. If every studio in Hollywood were lining up to do movies with Myers, that would really help his negotiating position. The truth is that isn't the case. After 'Cat in the Hat' under-performed, Myers bankability took a hit.

I don't know about that... They're probably paying Jay Roach some good money, too, and even if the first one was relatively inexpensive, the films have gotten more elaborate in each installment: Compare Dr. Evil's lair in the first to what he's using by the third; it's a much smaller set. The amount of visual effects has also gone up, even if it's just compositing to have multiple Mike Myerses on screen at once (which they only did in one scene of the original).

While all true, I still think they could bring a new Austin Powers in for under $85 million quite easily, even with Myers' salary.

AP3 cost about $65 million IIRC and I can't really imagine the sets needing to more elaborate than that. It's hard for me to see how they couldn't turn a tidy profit here. It does make you scratch your head a little bit at least when studios are desperately delving through their franchise back log dying to retry franchises which are probably a lot more dubious in terms of potential box office.

They could, but the studio is a little pre-occupied with getting "The Hobbit" off the ground. Again, if "The Love Guru" is a big hit for Myers, the studio will probably be a lot more receptive to the idea of a fourth Austin Powers adventure.

The Love Guru sounds pretty funny, I'm looking forward to it.

Wow Pete, talk about timing.

Mike Myers confirmed to Moviehole that the Austin Powers franchise will continue with a new trilogy of films. This time out, Austin would be the supporting player to Dr. Evil. Essentially, the next movie will be the first of a trilogy of Dr. Evil movies.

According to Myers, Austin would only be a supporting character in these new movies. New Line didn't really have any interest in doing further AP movies, but they became intrigued when Myers suggested shifting the focus entirely to Dr. Evil.

All involved felt that 'Goldmember' lacked the comedic firepower of 'The Spy Who Shagged Me' in spite of its $213 million domestic haul (which makes it the biggest hit of the trilogy). Dr. Evil is who the fans loved and now the evil genius will have his own movie trilogy.

Looks like this one will hit theaters in the summer of '09. Myers has yet to negotiate a deal with New Line, but they are currently "in talks". The two sides seem to have a verbal agreement to do the movies though.

Glad to hear more films are on the way. The first two AP movies are some of my favorite comedies ever, and the 3rd one isn't too bad either.

I do hope they can leave the bathroom humor out of it though. It gets very juvenile. The series is at its best when it's satire on life, culture and other movies.

AMEN.

Bring back Mr. Bigglesworth!

I was always bummed they dropped Mr. Bigglesworth for Mini Me, as I never found the character all that funny. And I just like those hairless cats. The first movie will always be my favorite, but the sequels were both pretty decent. The new trilogy sounds like a great idea to me, since I never liked Austin nearly as much anyway.

Well, after Goldmember I wouldn't have welcomed another Austin Powers flick, but the thought of films focused on Dr. Evil sound much more intriguing. If they end up making these, I hope they're as funny as the first two AP flicks.

Austin Powers was always my least favorite character anyway. Love the idea of a trilogy focusing on Dr. Evil.

The problem with the sequels that I had was that they just kept repeating the same gags over and over such as the shadow gag. By Goldmember it was getting old. But I think Goldmember had the best opening of any movie ever!

Poop jokes are switched on to me!

You can ask anyone I know, for the last few weeks I have been talking about how much I want a new Austin Powers movie - I'm really excited!!!! I heard about it this morning on the radio.

Heck, I remember hearing about Mike wanting there to be six total movies before Goldmember came out.

Great news, and I will see it!!!

ry

Yeah, poop jokes don't really bother me. "This coffee tastes like shit" is one of my favorite moments from The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Actually, at one point, Myers said he wouldn't mind being Austin Powers for the rest of his life.

A new set of movies focused on Dr. Evil is a great idea, as long as they keep Austin in the mix and keep that sense of the 60s spy craze going. These movies shouldn't satirize every genre known to film (it's not the Scary Movie franchise), they should focus on what made them unique in the first place.

IMHO, 2 was the best, then 1 and I liked 3 least.

A movie centered even more on Dr. Evil would be good, but you gotta still have some Austin to play off that, he's like the snake to Dr. Evil's mongoose, (or is mongoose to the snake?).

I think Mike Myers was mis-quoted with this Dr. Evil trilogy of movies.
MTV seemed to have left out a part of the quote; "For five long years, "Austin Powers" fans have been wondering when they'll see the shagadelic super-spy's next adventure. As it turns out, we've been focusing on the wrong character. "We're developing a fourth [movie], entirely from Dr. Evil's point of view," Mike Myers revealed this week. "That is part of what I've been doing in the last little while."

Yet Sci-Fi Wire had him quoted as saying; "I have figured out that the story will be taken from the point of Doctor Evil," Myers said in an interview while promoting Shrek the Third. "It will be powered from Doctor Evil's point of view." Myers added: "That will be the first of a trilogy. ... I'm just joking! ... I haven't figured it all out. Who knows?"

Sounds like he was joking around.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=41417

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/artic...01/story.jhtml

I agree. The Springer opening was one of the funniest bits I've ever seen on film. I about busted every vain in my head laughing.

3 has it's moments but I agree it's the least of them.