It was a little over 10 years ago that Edge of Tomorrow first arrived on the big screen (an anniversary Tom Cruise recently celebrated), and while it wasn’t initially considered a box office success, it found an audience in the long run thanks to positive word of mouth, and fans have now spent the last decade clamoring for a sequel. There has been a lot of chatter from filmmakers and stars about the potential project over the years – but director Doug Liman is preaching patience as more time wears on, and he compared progress to the long-running Terminator franchise.
Liman recently spoke with Empire about the present status of Edge Of Tomorrow 2, and the filmmaker noted that while things have been moving slow behind-the-scenes, there is still ambition to get the project made. He told the outlet that he has kept in communication with Tom Cruise about the movie, and acknowledged that Hollywood history is full of slow-developing franchises. Said Liman,
No, [Tom Cruise and I] keep talking about it. We love that world. I don’t know how long Cameron took his Terminators, but at the time if felt like a long time.
Doug Liman certainly isn’t wrong here. While there are movies in today’s cinematic landscape that produce sequels annually or semiannually, there was a seven-year gap between The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day – and while Cameron wasn’t specifically involved, it took another 12 years after that for Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines to hit theaters. (Cameron did notably come back as a writer/producer for the most recent installment of the series, Terminator: Dark Fate, which was released 28 years after T2.)
There have been many updates about Edge Of Tomorrow 2 over the years, from Doug Liman hyping the story idea back in 2018 to star Emily Blunt suggesting last December that too much time has passed for the project to get made. So will it ever actually happen?
For what it’s worth, Doug Liman and Tom Cruise are keeping excitement about the follow-up alive by revisiting their previous work. The filmmaker explained that he and Cruise recently screened the movie and left the experience proud of what they had accomplished with it. He laments that Edge Of Tomorrow wasn’t an instant box office hit, but it has an impressive legacy nonetheless:
Tom and I just actually rewatched it about two months ago, because I hadn’t seen it in 10 years. I was like, ‘Wow, that is a really good movie.’.. I haven’t necessarily always had the good fortune of having movies that have huge opening weekends. Bourne Identity lost to Scooby-Doo [on] its opening weekend. And Swingers came and went from the theatres. What I’ve come to understand is, I’m making movies for the long term. I’m an ego-driven guy, I’d like to get accolades now. But I also recognise that, if I was given the choice, I’ll choose making films that people 50 years from now are still watching.
If you would personally like to rewatch Edge of Tomorrow, the bad news is that its not presently available on any of the best subscription streaming services, but it is available for rental and purchase from all major digital outlets, and physical media collectors should pick up a copy of the 4K UHD.