Contagion may have been well-received upon its release but I don't think anyone could've predicted the resurgence the film would get nine years later as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take shape nationwide. By March of this year, the movie was the seventh most popular film on iTunes, listed as the number two catalog title on Warner Bros. compared to its 270 rank the past December 2019, and had average daily visits on piracy websites increase by 5,609 percent in January 2020 compared to the previous month. It was as if the film gave the public more of an understanding of what we were going through and now it looks like the director of the film, Steven Soderbergh, wants to expand on the ideas that were introduced in that film by diving into a Contagion sequel.
Soderbergh revealed during a recent interview on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast that he is in early development on a "philosophical" sequel to Contagion. Joining him in this endeavor is writer Scott Burns, who also served as screenwriter on the 2011 film. Soderbergh stressed that it's in the early stages and likely won't play as a direct sequel to Contagion but it will touch on similar themes and ideas.
"I’ve got a project in development that Scott Burns is working with me on, that’s a kind of philosophical sequel to ‘Contagion,’ but in a different context. You’ll kind of look at the two of them as kind of paired, but very different hair colors. So, Scott and I had been talking about, ‘So, what’s the next iteration of a ‘Contagion’-type story?’ We have been working on that; we should probably hot-foot it a little bit."
Contagion concerns the spread of a virus transmitted by respiratory droplets and fomites, attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease, the loss of social order in a pandemic, and the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread. The movie featured an impressive ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, and Sanaa Lathan. At the time of its initial release, Contagion was well-received by critics, scoring an 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was described as a "tense and scary disaster movie" and now that we're living it, a lot of what the film portrays does ring true. Made for $60 million, the film grossed $136.5 million at the worldwide box office.
Are YOU interested in a sequel to Contagion?