Sony Moving Forward With ‘Dragon Tattoo’ Sequel, Only They’re Changing Everything. Why Bother?

I had given up hope, or at least thought, that Sony was going to continue their American remake of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series after David Fincher’s The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo failed to meet expectations. It’s been four years, and nobody involved in the original seemed to be interested in returning. Fincher mentioned it from time to time, but the sequel – which should be The Girl Who Played with Fire – felt like a pipe dream at best.

But not for Sony, who continues working hard to take the mantle as the worst film studio in Hollywood. They have decided to movie forward with the series, but this is where it gets interesting: there will be no Daniel Craig, there will be no Rooney Mara, there will be no David Fincher. And, to top off the list of terrible ideas for this “sequel,” it will not be The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second book in the series. Instead, it will be the 2004 book The Girl in The Spider’s Web, written not by Larsson but by David Lagercrantz, who took over the series after Larsson’s death.

According to The Wrap, screenwriter Steven Knight (the brilliant Locke and the abhorrent Burnt) will adapt the screenplay. In addition, Alicia Vikander, who broke out this year in Ex Machina and has a busy slate of films on the horizon, will step in as Lisbeth Salander. So there’s a faint hope. But, what are we doing here Sony? This is certainly a reboot since none of the original players (who made the original film compelling) are involved, but it isn’t a reboot. I’m confused.

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is not one of Fincher’s top five films or anything, but it’s a solid foundation for a competent trilogy. It looked beautiful and held on to the darkness of Larsson’s novel. But the subject matter was much too harsh for mainstream audiences; and, if you ask me, releasing it so close to Christmas was a weird move. This should have been an October release where audiences were more in the mood for the morbid macabre flicks. The mediocre reception of the film was one of the main reasons why I didn’t think the sequels were coming. But I don’t work for Sony Pictures, so what do I know?