It’s the talking point of most media buzz, and it’s the first thing we should get rid of: at around $200 million, The gray man (starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans) is now Netflix’s most expensive original film. Directed by Marvel’s Joe and Anthony Russo (Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame), the film follows other A-list action tentpoles for the streaming service, including Extraction ($65 million), The old guard ($70 million) and red notice ($150 million). (And since we are comparing millions, it should be noted that The gray manThe closest non-streaming movie comparison this year is Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunderat $250 million, which makes Netflix about as willing to rain down money for movies as Disney.)

The budget matters. The gray man represents a kind of bet on the part of Netflix, which lost a million subscribers this quarter (still less than expected), an anticipated drop that has already led to hundreds of layoffs in the company.

That bet: Inject enough huge properties into viewers’ accounts that they’ll watch and stick around to watch more.

And there are precedents; great movies have paid off in the past. Both Extraction and red notice drew massive viewership, and both properties received sequels. (At a much lower budget and with R-rated styling action, Extraction can be a bit strange, from a production point of view.)

Audiences Seem to Want Popcorn, That’s Why Netflix Bought the Russos The gray man– and why they are also investing $200 million in another Russo production, electrical condition.

It’s too early to tell if this strategy will pay off, but it does suggest a forward-looking movie cycle, where Netflix hopes to run multiple action franchises simultaneously. This is good news for fans looking for a sequel to The gray mana film whose DNA is reminiscent of several other action franchises, including the Bourne films, the Bond films and the Impossible mission movies.

Here’s what we know about the future of The gray man.

East The gray man 2 Event?

In a word: probably.

Scott Stuber, Netflix’s head of global film, said The New York Times he’s been hoping to help the company break into big franchise action movies since he joined five years ago. Stuber lit up the Bourne franchise at Universal Pictures. The gray man seems like an obvious repeat of that spy thriller formula.

“We haven’t really been in that genre yet,” Mr. Stuber said, “If you want to do that, you want to deal with filmmakers who over the last decade have created some of the biggest franchises and the biggest action movie.movies in our company.

Hence the recruitment of the Russos by Netflix.

Internet chatter is already hinting at ongoing prequel and sequel episodes, specifically a prequel starring Chris Evans and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (dead Pool). This has yet to be confirmed by Netflix. If true, that would signal a strong level of investment in the franchise, i.e. faith that people will actually watch the first Gray Man.

The first installment certainly sets up a franchise, having introduced several expandable characters and plot points – Billy Bob Thornton as the chief of CIA operations, Ryan Gosling as an assassin more than a dozen years later. his recruitment, Ana de Armas and Regé-Jean Page as the current operation team and other somewhat underexplored assassins like the characters of Chris Evans and Avik San. That doesn’t include a vague CIA chief known as “the old man.”

The end to The gray man also sets up interagency drama and government conspiracy that will continue in future installments.

In other words: there’s a lot of sequel and spin-off potential. Whether that happens probably depends on how many people click “unsubscribe”.

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