Who doesn't remember Kate Beckinsale’s Underworld? Charting the journey of immortal vampire Selene as she goes up against a myriad of threats against her coven, the Underworld franchise was the result of Hollywood experimenting with a variety of genre meshing to create the next successful franchise. So with that being said, will we ever get a new Underworld movie with Kate Beckinsale?
With vampires totting automatic weapons in dark spandex suits and a penchant for slow-motion violence, Underworld was one of the many ‘Matrix-inspired’ features that came out in the early 2000s. Putting British actor Kate Beckinsale on the map, this franchise has undoubtedly been one of the more peculiar things to come out of Hollywood in recent memory. After Marvel’s Blade, this was the industry’s second attempt to combine vampires with action, which until then had been relegated only to horror and slasher films. Adding in werewolves and a rich backstory of centuries-old feud of power and deception, the concept did wonders.
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By all accounts, odds had been against the first Underworld film, as several vampire features had failed to attain any meaningful box office results around the same time. But the film succeeded, giving birth to a franchise that has seen a total of five Underworld films over the course of 13 years. The first outing, 2003’s Underworld, managed to make nearly five times its budget, and a sequel titled Underworld: Evolution quickly followed three years later. This was also a success, and thus, the studio decided to go back in time to make a prequel titled Underworld: Rise of the Lycans in 2009. Focusing on Michael Sheen’s Lucian, the prequel provided much-needed context on the eternal battle between vampires and werewolves.
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A fourth film soon followed in 2012, focusing on Selene and her daughter, a direct sequel to Evolution. Underworld: Awakening, as it was titled, became the highest-grossing film in the entire franchise (helped by the advent of 3D, which was all the craze during that time). This gave Sony confidence to make a fifth film in 2016, titled Underworld: Blood Wars. Although it was by no means a disaster, the less-than-stellar performance of this outing would later put the brakes on all further installments.
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With so many vampire-themed films hitting our screens in the past 30 years, there are a couple of things that make the Underworld franchise unique. First, the franchise has managed to spawn five live-action films, a record that ties it with the Twilight franchise for the most number of films in a vampire franchise. Two, it successfully combines Matrix-inspired gunplay (or ‘gun fu’ as it's commonly known) with centuries-old legends of vampires and werewolves. While the Blade trilogy was the first to go in this direction, it was the Underworld franchise that really went all-in and perfected it.
New Underworld Movie With Kate Beckinsale?
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In 2017, after Underworld: Blood Wars had been released, director and producer Len Wiseman revealed that a sixth film was in development and that Beckinsale would reprise her role as Selene. The studio had been eager to capitalize on the franchise, aiming to release a new Underworld film once every three years until the franchise ran out of gas. However, talks between the concerned parties soon appeared to be breaking down. Next year, Beckinsale hinted at moving on from the franchise, stating: "I wouldn't return. I've done plenty of those". By this time, the chances of a sixth film had plummeted considerably. In July 2021, however, she backtracked and stated that she was not opposed to reprising the role, stating that she would love to do an Underworld-Blade crossover.
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Concurrently, there have been other attempts to expand the franchise. Len Wiseman, director of the first two films, started developing a television series based on Underworld in 2014. By 2023, the series was still stuck in development hell. In addition, an animated feature titled Underworld: Endless War was released in 2011; the film being a collection of three shorts engineered as a prequel to Underworld: Awakening (2012).
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One highly impressive fact to consider here is that no Underworld film has lost money. Most long-running franchises stumble upon at least one box office bomb, but Sony was probably wise to stop at Underworld 5; they saw the diminishing returns of the last installment and quit while they were ahead. Also equally impressive is the fact that the five films together have made more than half a billion dollars at the box office, with tens of millions more in home video and streaming rights. This stellar financial record shows that the franchise might still have some juice left in it, and the powers in charge would not be foolish to consider another go.
New Underworld Movie With Kate Beckinsale?
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However, there is always a slight possibility that Sony might reboot the franchise entirely with a new lead actress. From Men in Black to Ghostbusters and from Spider-Mann to Charlie’s Angels, Sony has never shied away from pressing the ‘big red reboot button’ when they feel that the present iteration has run out of gas. They seldom succeed, and almost all their reboots (Ghostbusters, Men in Black, and Charlie’s Angels) have turned out to be massive box office disappointments. But that won't stop Sony, and I think they might have already had some conversations in this regard.
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Considering everything above, the chances of a new Underworld film happening with Kate Beckinsale are slim to none at present. Sony’s box office streak has been less than stellar recently, and so they are less likely to gamble money here on a film that might not make as much as they want it to. There is always a chance that the franchise continues in some other form (perhaps the long-in-development TV series might come to fruition), but a new film is presently not on the horizon.
New Underworld Movie With Kate Beckinsale?
However, we are in show business after all, and Sony might one day suddenly decide to greenlight a new installment if they feel the conditions to do so are perfect. Thus, until an official announcement makes things clear, one should not keep their hopes up for the sixth Underworld film hitting theatres anytime soon.
