Steven Soderbergh is working on a 'philosophical sequel' to his popular pandemic movie 'Contagion'
- Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns are making a "Contagion" sequel.
- The director said the film will be a "philosophical" sequel to his 2011 thriller, which found a second life during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- "Scott and I had been talking about, 'So, what's the next iteration of a Contagion-type story?' We have been working on that. We should probably hot foot it a little bit," Soderbergh said.
Steven Soderbergh is developing a "philosophical" sequel to his frighteningly accurate 2011 pandemic thriller "Contagion."
During an interview on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, Soderbergh confirmed that the project, which will also be written by Scott Z. Burns, is currently in production. However, the film will not be a direct sequel.
"I've got a project in development that Scott Burns is working with me on that's a kind of philosophical sequel to 'Contagion,' but in a different context," he said.
"You'll kind of look at the two of them as kind of paired, but very different hair colors. So, Scott and I had been talking about, 'So, what's the next iteration of a Contagion-type story?' We have been working on that. We should probably hot foot it a little bit," Soderbergh added.
"Contagion" was released almost ten years ago, but the film has ended 2020 as one of the most successful and most-talked about films of the year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March, audiences have sought out the film and given it a second life on digital streaming services.
For a period of time, the film was on the list of top 10 rentals on iTunes as well as FandangoNow. And Warner Bros., the studio behind the movie, announced earlier this year that "Contagion" was behind only the "Harry Potter" franchise as the most in-demand title in its catalog to view online. For context, "Contagion" was the studio's 270th most popular in December 2019.
The film follows, with uncanny similarity to the COVID-19 pandemic, the worldwide spread of a deadly respiratory virus that originated in Eastern Asia, and the desperate chase to find a vaccine.
Speaking with Insider back in April, the film's producer Michael Shamberg said that he was amazed by the film's resurgence and that all the credit must be given to the film's screenwriter Scott Burns, director Steven Soderbergh, and the experts who consulted on the film.
"I don't think in the history of cinema anything has happened like this before," he said. "I can't give enough credit to Scott Burns, Steven Soderbergh, and our experts. What I'm proud of is it just tells you that there are many uses of cinema beyond comic book movies. Which I also like. But we should not forget that we need cinema both to entertain us, take our minds off of stuff, but also it is the most powerful medium for informing people."
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