Why Assassin's Creed 2 Never Happened

Assassin's Creed is based on the video game series of the same name, and 20th Century Fox planned for the 2016 movie to be the first of a long-running franchise, but it seems the Assassin's Creed 2 film will not happen. The first movie is set in the future and follows Cal (Michael Fassbender), who travels back in time to the 15th century to try and extract information from his ancestors. The character travels through time using genetic memories in his DNA, which is how he learns to become an expert fighter, killer, and free-runner.

There were a lot of mistakes with the Assassin's Creed movie, including overcomplicating the story, resulting in negative reviews and a low 18% Rotten Tomatoes score. The video game adaptation grossed $240 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), underperforming given the film's $125 million budget. However, that didn't stop 20th Century Fox from developing not one but two sequels (via Game Spot). Producers even speculated about a Cold War setting for Assassin's Creed II. Unfortunately, while that idea had huge potential to be a massive improvement over the original movie, the Assassin's Creed 2 film never materialized.

Why The Assassin's Creed Movie Sequels Were Scrapped

Disney Canceled The Assassin's Creed Sequels After Buying Fox

Despite 20th Century Fox's confidence in the Assassin's Creed franchise, even after the first movie's underwhelming box office performance, there wasn't much that could be done once Disney acquired Fox in 2019. After the deal, Disney canceled dozens of Fox projects in development, two of which were the Assassin's Creed sequels.

There's no knowing how far along in development the Assassin's Creed 2 movie and the threequel were or even if they were in active planning at all, but they weren't officially canceled until the franchise was handed over to Disney. The studio likely thought that its resources would be better spent on a movie with more box office potential.

Disney Has Little Success With Video Game Movie Franchises

They Were Behind The Notorious 1993 Box Office Bomb, Super Mario Bros.

Notable Video Game Movie Adaptations:

It's hardly surprising that Disney had little interest in the property, as not only would the studio have deemed it pointless to invest $100 million in a movie that makes $200 million, but Disney has had no success with video game movies in the past. The House of Mouse produced Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, another swords-and-scandals movie based on a video game that also underperformed (via Box Office Mojo). However, the studio's trouble with video game movies goes back decades, as Disney released the first blockbuster video game movie, 1993's much-maligned Super Mario Bros.

While 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a huge success, leading to a sequel, the 1993 Disney release was a box office bomb that the studio would rather forget. Disney's subsequent video game movies haven't helped erase the stigma, either, as both Need for Speed and the Prince of Persia movies were negatively received, too. In that respect, Disney canceling the Assassin's Creed 2 movie and the threequel might have been the best thing the studio could have done for the franchise.

An Assassin's Creed Sequel Or Reboot Could Work Now

Studios Are Getting Smarter About Video Game Adaptations, Like With 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Unfortunately, Disney hasn't spoken about the Assassin's Creed 2 movie since its cancelation in 2019. However, with a new approach, the franchise could be rebooted, and it could be much better received. The 2016 movie was criticized for being too slow, confusing, and outright boring. Given that the video game series is set in different periods in history and about a secret society of free-running killers, it's nigh-impossible to make a movie adaptation of the property that isn't fun and entertaining at the very least.

Video game movies have improved significantly over the past few years, which is evident given that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is in production, The Super Mario Bros. Movie made $1.3 billion, and even Uncharted was ultimately a successful popcorn flick. Though not much is known about the project, Netflix is developing an Assassin's Creed series, which could fix a lot of the movie's problems. However, a big-screen audience-pleasing reboot instead of the Assassin's Creed 2 film or Netflix series has so much more potential.

Assassin's Creed Might Work Better As A TV Series

Storytelling And Budget Concerns Are Solved On The Small Screen

Assassin's Creed 2 might be a lost project, but the idea of a television series adapting the game is much more intriguing than a movie sequel to a dead-on-arrival feature film. The expansive and complex story of the video games simply did not have enough time to be explored in a movie while also delivering the kind of action fans expect from such a series. However, television offers a lot more freedom in terms of time, allowing the mythology to be developed and expanded upon over the course of a season rather than a single movie.

The show also gives the opportunity to embrace the wider universe of storytelling in the games. The Assassin's Creed had to choose one time period to explore as it would be too difficult to dive into any other time periods. However, a show could allow for the series to explore some new period of time with each new season, or even more a "case of the week" format with endless jumping back and forth in time.

Television also offers salvation to the franchise, which is likely not a popular property for film studios at the moment. The failure of the first movie would likely cause plenty of trepidation about greenlighting a blockbuster budget for another attempt. The more modest budgets of television could make that an easier choice to make, especially with the recent success of video game adaptations on the small screen, from The Last of Us to Fallout. Assassin's Creed 2 will not happen, but the future looks bright for the franchise to move forward.