The 61-year-old actor Liam Neeson has reportedly entered negotiations to reprise his role as retired CIA agent Bryan Mills in Taken 3 with a salary ‘in the vicinity of $20 million'.
Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, who co-wrote the first two films, will again provide the screenplay for the third film.
‘Loving father with a special set of skills' was quoted as saying,
I don't see it. I don't think (Taken 3) is going to happen. I really don't. I can't see a possible scenario where audiences wouldn't go, ‘Oh, come on…! She's taken again?'
but had a change of heart about it after he picked all six numbers for a $20 million payday. Neeson got paid $12 million up front for Taken 2, but made $15 million in back-end deals. Taken 2 pulled in more than $375 million worldwide, despite being terrible .
EuropaCorp and 20th Century Fox are eyeing a February production start for the film, which is likely counting on deals with Neeson's yet unattached franchise stars Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen to return to their respective roles.
Don't be surprised if Taken 2 director Olivier Megaton steps behind the camera again.
One of the more popular and beloved actors in Hollywood has a number of other roles coming up in the near future, including the airplane thriller Non-Stop, Scott Frank's thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones, Paul Haggis' dramatic ensemble Third Person, voices a character in The Lego Movie, and appears in Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West.
