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THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: A New Cast will be Featured in 2018 Sequel

Rooney Mara Daniel Craig The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2018 Sequel Will Feature New Cast

The sequel to David Fincher‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018). The sequel, to be directed by Fede Alvarez, will feature none of the cast from the Fincher film. This will be a blow to fans of Fincher’s version of the first book in the Millennium book series created by Stieg Larsson.

When Fincher’s version was released to mixed reviews in 2011, it didn’t become the box office sensation that Columbia Pictures had hoped. It made $232.6 Million world-wide on a production budget of $90 Million (that doesn’t include marketing costs). To put that into context, Fifty Shades of Grey performed far better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Fifty Shades of Grey made $571 Million world-wide on a production budget of $40 Million (that doesn’t include marketing costs).

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Many envisioned a U.S. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, helmed by David Fincher, to rival and eclipse the vastly superior Swedish version that Niels Arden Oplev brought to life. Fincher’s version performed so badly that the next two films in the U.S. trilogy never materialized. There were rumors of a sequel for years with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig returning to their roles of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist respectively.

Those rumors have now been silenced as have those hopes. An entirely new cast will be cultivated and put into place for The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The question is, who will now pick up (or be picked) to take up the mantle of Lisbeth Salander? When Fincher’s film was announced, the role was sought after by all the top up-and-coming young actresses in Hollywood.

Whether The Girl in the Spider’s Web and this adaptation (written by Steven Knight, Fede Alvarez, and Jay Basu) sparks that kind of enthusiasm remains to be seen.

Production on The Girl in the Spider’s Web will begin in September 2018.

The official press release on The Girl in the Spider’s Web film adaptation:

CULVER CITY, Calif., March 13, 2017 — Lisbeth Salander, the cult figure and title character of the acclaimed Millennium book series created by Stieg Larsson, will return to the screen in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a first-time adaptation of the recent global bestseller written by David Lagercrantz. Fede Alvarez, the director of 2016’s breakout thriller Don’t Breathe, will helm the project from a screenplay by Steven Knight and Fede Alvarez & Jay Basu. Scott Rudin, Søren Stærmose, Ole Søndberg, Amy Pascal, Elizabeth Cantillon, Eli Bush, and Berna Levin will produce; the executive producers are Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Line Winther Skyum Funch, Johannes Jensen, and David Fincher.

The new film will feature an entirely new cast, and the announcement marks the kickoff of a global search for an actress to portray in the iconic role of Lisbeth Salander. The production will begin principal photography in September of this year with a release date scheduled for October 5, 2018.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web will be the first in the best-selling series to be produced into an English-language film in its initial adaptation. The previous books in the series have been adapted into Swedish-language films, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a remake of the Swedish film. It became a global hit for Columbia Pictures, taking in over $230 million worldwide.

The announcement was made today at the London Book Fair during a celebration for the fifth Millennium book launch, also by Lagercrantz. Sony’s Columbia Pictures retains the rights to all future Millennium Series books.

Sanford Panitch, president of Columbia Pictures, said, “In all of contemporary literature, Lisbeth Salander is completely sui generis – probably one of the greatest female literary characters of all time in my view. Modern punk defiance personified, she is unforgettable in every incarnation, truly one of the most compelling characters we’ve seen in recent years. David Lagercrantz’s brilliant work in continuing this remarkable series honors Stieg Larsson’s masterpiece. We at Sony are so honored to be part of this series with Yellowbird, and we’re so excited to be making an original film of The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Fede Alvarez is the perfect choice to direct. Fede is an amazing director with a unique vision of the world. In particular, his talent and skill in creating psychological intensity will bring Lisbeth Salander back into popular movie culture with a roar.”

Alvarez added, “I’m hugely excited and grateful for this opportunity. Sony has become family to me and I can’t think of a more thrilling project to celebrate our relationship. Lisbeth Salander is the kind of character any director dreams of bringing to life. We’ve got a great script and now comes the most fun part – finding our Lisbeth.”

The Millennium Series is a worldwide bestseller, with the four books selling over 86 million copies since their debut.

The aforementioned Fincher version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also starred Robin Wright, Stellan SkarsgardChristopher Plummer, Max von Sydow, Joely Richardson, David Dencik, Joel Kinnaman, Embeth Davidtz, Goran Visnjic, Julian Sands, Steven Berkoff, Geraldine James, Yorick van Wageningen, and Sahlima.

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The Girl in the Spider’s Web will be released in U.S. theaters through Columbia Pictures on October 5, 2018 Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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