The film that launched John Boyega’s career is set to get a sequel with the star returning to reprise the role of Moses in Attack the Block 2, and he will also co-produce the film with Joe Cornish.
Allow it. The low-budget indie darling “Attack the Block,” which is about an alien invasion in London, singlehandedly kickstarted John Boyega’s career in 2011 and turned into a cult hit thanks to those who sang its praises early on, finally crossing into the mainstream enough to justify a long-awaited sequel (while also leading us oblivious folk in the U.S. to completely misunderstand what the slang phrase “Allow it” even means in the first place). Written and directed by Joe Cornish (“The Kid Who Would Be King”), the thrilling and incisive action/comedy has taken a long, winding, but thoroughly rewarding path to reaching the current level of acclaim it now rightfully enjoys.
And those involved with the sequel are aiming their sights even higher.
“Attack the Block 2” (assuming it even goes by that title) won’t have the element of surprise on its side this time around, but Cornish isn’t shying away from the expectations established by the original film. In fact, it seems like he and the rest of the creative team — a returning Boyega included — are fully embracing the challenge. We’ve heard countless times before about how filmmakers have taken inspiration from “The Godfather Part II” or “The Empire Strikes Back” or, yes, “Terminator 2” and “Aliens” when it comes to making a highly-anticipated sequel of their own. But when the latter two comparisons are invoked with a film like “Attack the Block,” even a clichéd answer feels exciting. Cornish is saying all the right things about the upcoming sequel, which you can read all about below.
n a recent appearance on Fangoria’s The Kingcast podcast, the director reminisced about the unique circumstances of the original film’s release and offered up an update on the sequel:
“The nice thing about the first movie was, nobody was expecting it. Nobody knew who John [Boyega] was or who I was, certainly, outside of UK comedy circles. And we put a lot of work into the first one! Obviously, I can make stuff up about aliens quite easily, but the other stuff — the aspects of reality that we folded the fantasy into — we did a lot of research for, and so we are currently doing that same thing. We have a very detailed treatment and a storyline we’re very, very excited about — and when I say ‘we,’ I mean me and John Boyega, who [I’m co-producing the film with] and consulting very closely with — and we’re doing all the research to make sure we get it right.”
Read more here.
