Bad Santa 3 has finally received a promising update around 10 years after its predecessor hit the big screen. Franchise lead Billy Bob Thornton recently revealed that he heard a pitch that “made sense” to him.
Billy Bob Thornton finally heard a Bad Santa 3 idea that makes sense
The Oscar winner recently appeared at Newport Beach TV Fest to promote his Paramount+ series, Landman. At the event, The Direct approached him, asking about various Bad Santa threequel ideas he had that had potential. He responded, “I just heard one about two weeks ago. It’s the first one I’ve heard that really kind of made sense.”
Clarifying that he and everyone else involved in the Christmas black comedy franchise didn’t know if they were going to produce it, he added, “Not that we know we’re going to do it, but there is one that’s floating around out there that seems pretty good.”
Five months earlier, the Fargo star told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that there were discussions. He added that his manager said that there were roughly 50 pitches and all were “horrible.” Thornton continued, “Finally, just a couple of weeks ago, he heard one that he really likes. So there is a possibility of a Bad Santa 3.”
The original premiered in 2003 and found commercial success. Made on a reported $23 million budget, it grossed approximately $76.4 million globally (via Box Office Mojo).
It also garnered a largely positive reception from critics and audiences alike, reflected in its robust scores on review aggregators. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie boasts a “Certified Fresh” 78% critical approval rating and a healthy 75% audience score. Meanwhile, Metacritic assigned it a Metascore and a user score of 70 and 7 — both denoting “Generally Favorable” reception.
Naturally, this paved the way for a sequel, Bad Santa 2, which arrived 13 years later. Unfortunately, the 2016 black comedy failed to surpass, let alone match, the original’s success, critically and commercially. It fell short of its reported $26 million budget at the box office, grossing around $24 million worldwide.
Meanwhile, reviews slammed it, as indicated by its poor scores on review aggregators. On Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel displays poor 23% and 34% critical and audience ratings. Meanwhile, Metacritic has given it a “Generally Unfavorable” Metascore of 38 but a “Mixed or Average” user score of 5.5.
Originally reported by Abdul Azim Naushad on ComingSoon.
