It's High Time for a Sequel to Scarlett Johansson's $464 Million Action Movie

Summary

• Scarlett Johannson shone as Black Widow.
• Her portrayal of Lucy in 2014 Luc Besson movie was even better and pulled in $464 million.
• It’s time for a sequel with Johannson as the lead.

Talk of a Lucy spinoff continues, with Morgan Freeman set to reprise his role as Professor Norman. But can any Lucy sequel be expected to hit the same heights as the original without Scarlett Johannson?

Without taking anything away from her fellow cast members, most fans would probably agree that it was her outstanding performance that made the movie the success it was. And she’s now free to take part. Perhaps a movie sequel is on the cards.

An action star in the MCU

Scarlett Johannson was epic as Black Widow in the MCU. But she was arguably even better in Lucy, a movie which may not have the same status as the Marvel franchise but was a huge success.

As soon as we saw her in action, it was clear she had everything needed to be a Marvel hero. And so it proved, with Black Widow eventually getting her own film.

Had she not been committed to the MCU, Johannson may well have forged her own action movie franchise in 2014 after starring in Lucy. But it wasn’t to be.

Could she reprise her role as Lucy?

Despite disputed reports that Angelina Jolie was the first choice to play Lucy, Scarlett Johannson owned the role from the outset. Her performance was stunning and she was nominated for several awards for her portrayal of a woman who was dragged into drug trafficking and gradually gained control over her brain.

The film is rated just 66% on Rotten Tomatoes and was criticised for being a bit cheesy when it was first released. But the premise was great, and it gradually picked up praise. It’s now widely viewed as a decent action movie that further demonstrated Johannson’s ability to lead an action-based franchise.

And it was a box office hit. Stunning cinematography (Luc Besson at his best), great chemistry between the leads and some truly outstanding action scenes saw to that.

Viewers may remember that Lucy exited her physical body at the end of the film. But this is sci-fi fantasy, and anything can happen.

Any Lucy reboot needs Scarlett Johannson

In truth, a Lucy sequel doesn’t even need to create some wild reason for Lucy to make a comeback. The original already gave us a plausible explanation.

Firstly, when she left her physical body, Lucy left behind a flash drive. This was to give Professor Norman the support he needed to bring about a new era of humanity. Now, that’s a pretty tall order. So, it makes sense that Lucy, with her 100% brain capacity, would be in hand to assist.

There’s nothing to stop the writers from giving her an alternate physical form – although this would carry the risk of the role going to another actor. But that’s by no means necessary for the film to work.

We’ve already seen that Lucy can influence the real world while in her higher state of mind. A sequel would provide a chance to explore this further and learn more about her powers.

Any attempt to omit the main character from the story or re-cast Lucy runs the risk of losing one of the original film’s greatest assets – its star action hero.

The world needs a Lucy 2. And Lucy 2 needs Scarlett Johannson.

Lucy is currently available to stream on Max and will be available on Netflix until February 29.