This may seem like a weird distinction to make on the surface, but look more closely at Disney's blockbuster model over the last decade and a half, and Reed has a point. “What I felt happened is even though the movies were extremely successful and had a really strong fanbase, it’s a movie that gets brought up all the time, the company was never able to capitalize on it as a franchise," Reed said. "It was more of a movie with a sequel and National Treasure 3 would have been another sequel.” The conversation eventually turned to National Treasure, and though Reed noted he "tried damnedest" to get a third film off the ground back in the day, Disney just never seemed to see the potential for the series' future as clearly as he did. Reed, who worked on Book of Secrets and other Disney hits of that era, including Alice in Wonderland, before moving on to producing duties on more recent efforts like Mulan, recently sat down with Collider for a chat about the new Disney live-action effort.
Various parties have been talking about National Treasure 3 for years, and earlier this year producer Jerry Bruckheimer gave us the best indication yet that we shouldn't give up hope on one more adventure.īut why didn't it happen in the first place? After Book of Secrets earned more than $400 million worldwide, why didn't Disney want to try for one more? Production executive Jason Reed believes he has the answer. It's not like there hasn't been interested. It's been more than a decade since National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the National Treasure sequel that continued the adventures of Benjamin Franklin Gates and his crew as they uncovered more of the secret history of the United States through treasure hunting, and we still don't have a third film to enjoy.