Directed by Shane Black, The Nice Guys, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, is a neo-noir buddy action comedy movie from a screenplay by Anthony Bagarozzi. Set in the 1977 setting of Los Angeles, the 2016 movie follows the team of private eye detective Holland March and tough enforcer Jackson Healy working on a case of the disappearance of a teenager.
Upon its release, the movie received positive reviews from critics for the humor used but failed to attract the audience to theatres as it only managed to gross over $62.8 million on a budget of $50 million. However, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling have expressed their desire to return if the sequel is greenlit, and Crowe reveals the title they came up with for the sequel.
Online chatter for Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling’s The Nice Guys led to fans demanding a sequel
The 2016 movie The Nice Guys by Shane Black, starring two brilliant actors, Russell Crowe, and Ryan Gosling, received critical acclaim, but the response at the box office was lukewarm than expected. The chemistry between Crowe and Gosling was highly lauded by the viewers and critics, and now, after almost eight years, fans want a sequel.
The movie’s release on the streaming platform gave the audience a chance to witness the brilliance of black comedy and, of course, the bonding between Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. This has now led to viewers talking about the movie and demanding a sequel online. The Nice Guys was released at the same time as Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse, which grabbed the most attention at the time and subsided The Nice Guys which may be why it had a lukewarm response at the box office.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and The Angry Birds Movie released on the same day as The Nice Guys, which is also one of the reasons why the movie failed to perform at the box office. This is because The Nice Guys was an unfamiliar brand for the moviegoers, whereas Neighbors 2 and The Angry Birds were well-known and recognized by the public.
Okay, it’s been 8 years. It’s a crime that we have not received a sequel to this movie @BonafideBlack @russellcrowe. Please make it happen 🙏 #TheNiceGuys #FilmTwitter #RussellCrowe pic.twitter.com/2lSvBi7Kh6
— Movie Addict Matt (@MovieAddictMatt) April 4, 2024
.@BonafideBlack Now would be a great time to round up @russellcrowe and Ryan Gosling for a sequel to #TheNiceGuys! pic.twitter.com/e24hPKJkJv
— Bruce Floyd (@brucefloyd) March 15, 2024
With time, The Nice Guys became known as one of the most underrated comedies, which urged viewers to watch it on streaming platforms, and then later, impressed by how good it was, they started talking about it online. The online chatter brought back the talk of a sequel, and now, with Ryan Gosling’s success following the success of Barbie, if he wished, he could get the sequel made. Shane Black had noted back in 2018 that he would love to direct the sequel if given the opportunity.
I’m mad as a society not enough people saw this in theatres for them to make more. Both Actors Top of their form! I wanted a trilogy of these! #TheNiceGuys pic.twitter.com/rNBbMKUaEy
— Kyle Lopez (@lopes403) March 14, 2024
I love how over time this movie seems to gather more and more fans. It’s such an entertaining contemporary buddy crime comedy. And Gos is gold. #theniceguys https://t.co/kQt41yonB7
— Keith (@Houstonrufus) March 7, 2024
It’s been seven years and I’m still waiting for The Nice Guys sequel 😭
pic.twitter.com/zmPiSlRmSO https://t.co/ucxrHLWPC5
— Rhea (@4eyedRaven) September 3, 2023
A user wrote, ‘It’s been seven years and I’m still waiting for The Nice Guys sequel’. With a lot of fans noting that Gosling was really good in the movie, it deserves a sequel.
Russell Crowe reveals the unexpected sequel title he and Ryan Gosling came up with
In an interview with the KFC Radio podcast, Russell Crowe, who played private eye detective Holland March in the movie, revealed that he and Ryan Gosling came up with a sequel title for the movie if it was ever made. He said,
“We wanted to call it ‘Nice Guys: The Mexican Detectives’. Bang! It’s me and Ryan; somehow we’ve got to pretend we’re Mexican detectives.”
Director Shane Black revealed with Slash Film that the movie was initially written as a TV show. He shared,
“We tried it as a TV show. We caught the characters, but the plot was totally different. It was set in the present day, and no one wanted to buy it. We had to look elsewhere.”
The director, during an interview with THR, mentioned that filming the movie with Crowe and Gosling was a lot of fun. He added that he has worked on sets where the two guys did not like each other very much, and it’s a terrible situation compared to the sets of The Nice Guys. The two actors would make each other laugh, and they were sadistic about it.
Shane Black recalled that in situations like them losing the light to film or blocking an entire street, the two actors would crack each other more. Gosling admitted that they had to seriously hold it together if they wanted to finish filming.
No wonder the viewers want a sequel to a movie that simply had a bad time releasing at the box office, but now with the success of Barbie, Ryan Gosling could turn the tables if he wanted.
The Nice Guys is available to stream on Netflix.
