Guy Ritchie Drops ‘Lobo’ for ‘Sherlock Holmes 2′

Published by Jeff Leins on: January 27th, 2010

After amassing $389 million worldwide so far at the box office (even under Avatar’s shadow), Warner Bros is moving head with the inevitable sequel to Sherlock Holmes.

Robert Downey Jr. already backed out of Cowboys & Aliens to eliminate any conflicts with the fast-tracked follow-up, and now director Guy Ritchie is clearing his schedule by dropping the DC Comics adaptation Lobo.

According to Joel Silver, who is serving as producer on both movies for Warner Bros, Ritchie is shifting focus to the studio’s priority.  “I don’t think he’s going to do it now.  The studio wants us and Guy to focus on making another ‘Sherlock Holmes.’ So I think we’re going to be doing that. But we’re seeing what happens with this… We have some ideas and some good story points,” Silver told the LA Times’ Hero Complex.

Apart from the financial element, another case for Sherlock seems like a safe bet for everyone.  Audiences generally enjoyed Ritchie’s take on the public domain character and it won Downey a Golden Globe this month, so why not strike again while the iron is hot?

Jude Law will also return, says Silver, and the plan is to introduce Professor Moriarty as the main villain.  As for the casting of Brad Pitt, Silver was a bit more coy on those details.  “Well, I mean, we talked about that at one point, but you know as of right now we’re not sure what we’re going to do. We’ll see what happens.”

Lobo, on the other hand, is an indestructible, blue-skinned, 7-foot-tall alien antihero who drives a pimped-out motorcycle.  The DC character was intended as a parody of Marvel’s Wolverine and Punisher.  It’s a wild, violent origin story (though still PG-13) that promises to be heavy on the expensive special effects. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the “then he teams up with a teenage girl” plot any way, so I’ll wait and hope they rework the script in the meantime.

Joel Silver has the worst luck with producing comic book movies.  A live-action He-Man has struggled to find a home (even with John Stevenson attached to direct), his Wonder Woman concept never seemed to take flight, and the Wachowskis’ Plastic Man isn’t likely to happen.