Thanks to her work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Scarlett Johansson is one of the highest-grossing actors in history. But her box office prowess extends beyond comic book fare. In addition to headlining installments in other franchises like Jurassic World Rebirth, she’s also shown she’s capable of leading an original genre film. Back in 2014, Johansson showed off her action chops in Lucy, a sci-fi thriller directed by Luc Besson. Releasing at the tail end of the summer movie season that year, Lucy performed well at the box office, bringing in $469 million worldwide against a $40 million production budget. More than a decade later, it’s still finding ways to attract audiences.
According to FlixPatrol, which measures the popularity of titles on various streaming services, Lucy is currently the No. 8 movie on HBO Max. It ranks ahead of Blink Twice and The Departed at the bottom of the latest top 10 chart.
Will Lucy Ever Receive a Follow-Up?
Though the premise of Lucy stems from a debunked myth, the film was still generally well-received. It earned a 67% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with much of the praise being given to the action scenes and Johansson’s performance. In the wake of Lucy‘s success, there was speculation that a sequel could be on the way, though Besson vehemently denied such a film was in development. There was also talk of a TV series with Morgan Freeman reprising his role from the film, but that hasn’t come to fruition yet.
Lucy follow-ups have been discussed, and the streaming figures show there’s still an audience for the concept, so it’s worth wondering if a sequel project will eventually get off the ground. While Johansson remains as busy as ever (she has the Exorcist reboot and a possible Jurassic World Rebirth sequel on the way), she no longer has any MCU obligations to fulfill. It might be easier for Johansson to work a Lucy sequel into her schedule now since she isn’t trying to plan things around large-scale Marvel productions. Of course, this is assuming the filmmakers have an idea for a sequel (which could prove difficult considering how Lucy ended). There have been conflicting accounts on that front, and considering that Besson was the primary creative voice behind the first movie, a second installment probably wouldn’t happen without him.
As for the TV spinoff, it’s been a few years since word of that project broke. The film’s universe is seemingly compelling enough to support this kind of project (an exploration of the criminal underworld’s interest in the CPH4 drug that unlocked Lucy’s full capabilities), but it remains to be seen if the studio feels such an investment is still worthwhile. On one hand, Lucy could be an interesting sci-fi/crime series for a streamer to take a chance on, but we’ve also gotten to a point where the peak streaming era is over and the landscape has changed. We’ve seen studios like Disney decide to scale back on output and cancel shows for budgetary concerns. Whether or not the Lucy show happens could depend on the cost.
Lucy isn’t a modern sci-fi classic, but it’s still an entertaining slice of genre fare, and it would be interesting to see if there was a way for its universe to expand. There’s a precedent for this; the Bradley Cooper vehicle Limitless spawned a TV spinoff, so the same could happen for Lucy. However, it’s worth wondering if too much time has passed now. Lucy was a box office hit in its time, but 12 years is a long wait and there’s been little movement made on follow-ups. It might be better if the film remains just a standalone action vehicle for Johansson.
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