Ghost Rider was a strange film. Not a wonderful strange film but a strange film in the sense that it was stuck somewhere in the middle. It was by no means terrible but it also wasn’t good enough to become the new Spider-Man or Batman series.
Regardless of this, or maybe because of it, Ghost Rider 2 was announced a few months ago, complete with Nicolas Cage taking on the title role for a second time. He could certainly do with the money if the rumors of him being broke are to be believed.
The nature of Ghost Rider 2 was unclear. Would it be a direct sequel? Or would it be a reboot and obvious attempt at positioning the series for more mainstream success? Although the rating aim is being toned down from an R to a PG-13, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going back to the beginning.
David Goyer explained to MTV Splash Page how Ghost Rider 2 will work:
“It’s not exactly a reboot. I hate to say it’s more realistic, because he’s got a flaming skull for a head, but it’s a bit more stripped down and darker. It’s definitely changing tone. What ‘Casino Royale’ was to the Bond movies, hopefully this will be to ‘Ghost Rider.’”
“This story picks up eight years after the first film. You don’t have to have seen the first film. It doesn’t contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we’re pretending that our audience hasn’t seen the first film. It’s as if you took that same character where things ended in the first film and then picked it up eight years later—he’s just in a much darker, existential place.”
“My script is out there on the Internet. We’re not changing much from it. It’ll be significantly the same script.”
So, not only is it a sequel rather than a reboot, you won’t have had to see the original movie to enjoy the sequel. Plus, the script is already out there on the Web for those interested and determined enough to locate it.
