First, I think we need stop saying that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is some kind of big disappointment. Did it fail to dominate the holiday movie season? Yes. Is going to pass the hundred-million mark at the box office? Yes. Let’s call it even. After a lackluster opening, Dragon Tattoo has been a surprisingly steady performer for Sony, which is likely why they’re going ahead with the sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (the second option being sheer stubbornness). We WILL make English-language versions of these films and you WILL like them!

Stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Cranky Pants Craig are already signed on for future installments of the series, and screenwriter Steve Zaillian has turned in a script for #2 and is at work on #3. Director David Fincher, however, is not locked in, which I think is weird. This was always conceived as a franchise and the central problem of the Swedish trilogy, besides increasingly boring storylines, was ever-worsening direction from different directors with each new movie. Had Dragon Tattoo’s original director, Niels Arden Oplev, stuck with the series I think we would’ve seen a stronger Swedish effort but with each new director more and more was whittled away from the series. And since so much of the English-language Dragon Tattoo was about Fincher’s vision and his conception of the Lisbeth Salander character, I’m surprised that Sony didn’t lock him in from the get.

Half of me thinks that Fincher needs to stick with this project. His interest in violence in general and serial killers in particular makes him uniquely suited to the project, but he didn’t seem fully engaged with the material the first time around so I also kind of think they might be better off finding someone who has a real passion for the Millennium trilogy. Though Sony would have to be careful not to dilute the brand, as happened in Sweden. With Fincher or no, English-speaking Lisbeth will be back in theaters. Whether you want her there or not.

Click here to see my review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and click here to read Lainey’s.

Attached - Rooney Mara and David Fincher in Rome for the photo call and premiere of the film yesterday.

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