Grab the Declaration of Independence, find yourself a pair of those fancy Benjamin Franklin glasses, and start looking for clues, because Benjamin Gates is coming back.
Yep. After more than 20 years, National Treasure 3 apparently isn’t just something Nicolas Cage fans keep begging Disney to make anymore. According to director Jon Turteltaub, it’s actually happening.
During a live recording of the National Treasure Hunt podcast on August 21, Turteltaub decided to casually drop a bomb on the audience.
“It’s happening.”
And then, just in case everyone thought they misheard him:
“It’s finally real.”
Now before you start searching the back of the Declaration of Independence for the release date, Turteltaub added one very important disclaimer: this is Hollywood real.
Meaning… anything can happen.
As Turteltaub hilariously explained, if Nicolas Cage gets hit by a bus, there’s no National Treasure 3. If he gets hit by a bus?
There probably still is.
Welcome to Hollywood.
But here’s the part that actually has me excited: there’s already a script. And according to Turteltaub, both he and Disney have approved it. Disney’s reaction was apparently that it “sounds like a movie.”
Okay, admittedly that’s not exactly “This is the greatest screenplay we’ve ever read!”
But I’ll take it.
The original National Treasure came out in 2004, followed by National Treasure: Book of Secrets in 2007. And somehow we’ve now waited nearly 20 years to find out what the hell was on Page 47 of the President’s Secret Book.
Seriously, Disney.
It’s time.
Get Nicolas Cage back. Get Justin Bartha back. Get Diane Kruger back. Give me ridiculous historical clues, secret tunnels underneath famous landmarks, impossible conspiracies, Ben Gates stealing something he absolutely shouldn’t be stealing, and Nicolas Cage explaining American history while running away from heavily armed men.
I don’t need National Treasure 3 to reinvent cinema.
I just need Nicolas Cage to steal something important.
Let’s go.
