Overview
- Director Jon Turteltaub told a live audience at the National Treasure Hunt podcast in Philadelphia on Friday that a completed script exists and that Disney has endorsed it as “a movie we can make.”
- Turteltaub said Nicolas Cage is expected to reprise Benjamin “Ben” Gates and that the filmmakers hope to bring back original cast members “to whatever extent we can.”
- The director repeatedly cautioned the announcement is “Hollywood real,” meaning the project can still be derailed by ordinary setbacks and it has no publicly announced start date or full cast confirmations.
- The update follows nearly two decades of stalled attempts to revive the series and comes after Disney’s 2022 spinoff National Treasure: Edge of History was canceled after one season; the first two films together grossed roughly $806 million worldwide.
- Next milestones to watch are formal statements or confirmations from Disney and Cage, casting and production schedule announcements, and how the screenplay will handle U.S. political themes that Turteltaub says shaped earlier delays.