Crank co-director wants Chev Chelios cinematic universe

Filmmaker Brian Taylor has been pretty busy of late, directing his just-released Nicolas Cage-starring horror-comedy Mom and Dad and overseeing SYFY’s graphic novel adaptation Happy!, which airs its season 1 finale on Wednesday. So, where does that leave Crank 3, the possible third installment of the infamously deranged, Jason Statham-fronted action franchise whose first two films (2006’s Crank, 2009’s Crank: High Voltage) he co-directed with Mark Neveldine. It was a subject Taylor addressed on the latest episode of The Movie Crypt, the podcast hosted by his fellow filmmakers Adam Green (Hatchet, Victor Crowley) and Joe Lynch (Mayhem).

“The prospects for Crank 3 would be much improved if the second movie had made more than $12 at the box office,” Taylor half-joked. “So there really isn’t like a Fast & Furious financial incentive to do it, right? So, it’s got to be a great idea. It’s got to be everybody on the same page and passionate about doing something insane. My feeling about Crank 3 is that Crank 3 should be as exponentially more f—ed up than Crank 2 as Crank 2 was Crank 1. Obviously, there’s been talk here and there but I’ve never really felt that creatively it was f—ed up enough to really do. Because the studio will get in contact with us: ‘What do you guys think about this?’ ‘What do you guys think about that?’ And the scenarios are always very tame compared to what I think it should be.”

Taylor did offer some hope for those who want to see the return of Statham’s character, the much-tormented Chev Chelios.

“Obviously, there’s a great movie there somewhere,” said the director. “I don’t know if it’s going to be Jason Statham in a wheelchair, 40 years from now. I think there should be a Crank cinematic universe. Not just one movie. So who knows? There’s nothing in the works right now. But you never know. Me and Mark are brothers for life.”

Watch the trailer for Crank: High Voltage, above.