Many film critics consider Casablanca, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this month, one of the most perfect films ever made. In a world where the term “iconic” gets tossed around a bit too often than it should, the Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman classic truly deserves that title. Naturally, even in 1942 it was hard for Hollywood to leave a good story alone.
Warner Bros. first passed on a sequel to Casablanca in 1943 titled Brazzaville and again on another sequel in 1944 titled Passage to Marseilles (both were set to star Bogart and original co-star Claude Rains) . However, Warners smartly felt neither sequel’s story lived up to the classic original. Aside from two short-lived television prequel series that aired in 1955 and 1983 and a 1998 sequel novel As Time Goes By, the Casablanca story begins and ends with the 1942 film. There have been numerous threats of possible remakes — including an unfounded rumor of one about a decade ago starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez during the height of their romance — but Warner Bros. has so far preferred to leave the classic alone. Although other studios have messed with it — believe it or not, Pamela Anderson‘s Barb Wire is an uncredited remake of Casablanca (trust me on this one).
However, today’s New York Post reports that discussions about a sequel are happening, even if they’re not going anywhere. The sequel would be based on an early 1980s treatment by Howard Koch, who co-wrote the Casablanca screenplay. Koch’s treatment, titled Return to Casablanca, focused on the son of Bogart and Bergman’s character (conceived off-screen during the original) returning to the city in the early 1960s to find out what happened to his father. Though Warners passed on the treatment in 1981, Cass Warner, granddaughter of Warner Bros. co-founder Harry Warner, was once a student in Koch’s screenwriting class and has been pushing for the studio to tackle the project for the studio’s upcoming 90th anniversary. Cass Warner admits that the studio isn’t interested unless she was able to involve “a filmmaker they were interested in working with.” Of course, one person interviewed in the article pitches Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the son role, because, well, why not?
I don’t see this sequel happening — even the article suggests it’s unlikely — mostly because Warner Bros. would have more to lose than win from a sequel. While Casablanca remains popular, I doubt many are clamoring for a sequel, and certainly not enough people to buy enough tickets to see the sequel and compensate from the fury of spurned fans of the classic original. Casablanca remains a strong seller on DVD and Blu-ray (there have been numerous re-releases), and 1992 and 2012 re-releases of the film in theaters have both done over a million dollars at the box office. The last thing Warner Bros. would want to do is hurt the brand of one of the greatest films ever made, especially if there’s not much profit in it.
But if Return to Casablanca ends up getting made and becomes a huge hit? Well, might as well get ready for Citizen Kane 2: Rosebud Lives!
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