$136 Million Hit: Can This Star-Studded Movie Get a Sequel After 14 Years?

Currently, with the back-to-back release of two movies (“Presence” and “The Insider”), Steven Soderbergh is a filmmaker in high demand, bustling with numerous projects. Among the anticipated works is a sequel to “Contagion”.

Released in 2011, this drama depicting an uncontrollable epidemic saw a significant surge of interest during the Covid outbreak in 2020. “Contagion” features a devastating pandemic: teams rally to decipher the genome of a constantly mutating mysterious virus; major pharmaceutical companies fiercely compete to develop a vaccine; a WHO doctor strives to trace the origin of the scourge; and a campaigning blogger sparks widespread panic by promoting conspiracy theories.

What Could “Contagion 2” Be About?

The idea of a “Contagion 2” has been mentioned multiple times, but is it still in development? The director recently spoke about this in Variety.

“We’ve discussed it (with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns). It should be about something new but also something plausible. One reason why people found resonance with the film when it was released, and then again 10 years later during the pandemic, is that it was grounded in reality. We need to find a new concept, but it must be something that makes people say, ‘Oh, this could happen’.”

For me, “Contagion” was a horror movie.

When asked whether it could be about another pandemic or a public health crisis, Steven Soderbergh said, “Perhaps. It would have to be something that is happening right now and just needs a little nudge to become a major phenomenon. For me, ‘Contagion’ was a horror film. So, the question is: can we find something as frightening that is real? There’s certainly an argument to be made, especially in the West, about the long-term effects on the environment of what we eat and breathe. As we know, we now have plastic in our blood. It’s in our brain. It’s a new thing that must have a pretty serious effect. The possibilities are numerous.”

The latest news described “Contagion 2” as a “philosophical variation” on the theme of the global pandemic, which made the 2011 film, “Contagion,” seen as a prescient depiction of the havoc wrought by Covid-19.

“Contagion” grossed about $136 million on a budget of $60 million.