Ryan Gosling explains why The Nice Guys will probably never get a sequel

Ryan Gosling has revealed he doubts there’ll ever be a sequel to the 2016 film The Nice Guys thanks to the detective comedy’s performance at the box office on its opening weekend.

The 43-year-old actor starred in The Nice Guys as a failing private eye in 1970s Los Angeles alongside Russell Crowe. The pair form an unlikely partnership when they’re tasked with finding a missing woman, played by Margaret Qualley (Drive-Away Dolls, Poor Things).

There has never been a sequel to The Nice Guys, despite the film receiving positive reviews. Both Gosling and Crowe have expressed interest in the project – to no avail.

Speaking to ComicBook in an interview for his new film The Fall Guy, Gosling said one box office competitor destroyed The Nice Guys’ chances of ever becoming a franchise.

“So much of a sequel, I think, is decided by the opening weekend of a movie,” he said. “We opened up against Angry Birds. So, Angry Birds just destroyed us. Angry Birds got a sequel.”

The Nice Guys took an estimated $11.3m (£9m) on its opening weekend in 2016, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, Angry Birds opened to $39m (£31m). The Angry Birds sequel, The Angry Birds Movie 2, premiered in 2019.

Russell Crowe joked in an interview with KFC Radio he wanted to call The Nice Guys sequel Nice Guys: The Mexican Detectives. “Bang! It’s me and Ryan, somehow we’ve got to pretend we’re Mexican detectives,” he said.

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in ‘The Nice Guys’ (Warner Bros.)

It comes after early viewers of Gosling’s new film The Fall Guy complained about a joke in the movie making reference to Amber Heard and Johnny Depp.

Out in cinemas next month, The Fall Guy stars Gosling as Colt Seavers, a down-and-out stuntman who must track down the missing star of his director ex-girlfriend’s blockbuster film.

The joke in question is spoken by Hannah Waddingham’s character as she walks into a trailer, which is in disarray after a fight has taken place.

“It’s like Amber and Johnny were just in here,” she says, in reference to the notorious relationship between the actors who were married between 2015 and 2017.

“The Fall Guy was just kind of cringe and smug until the weird j*hnny and a*ber joke, then it was unpleasant,” wrote one journalist on X/Twitter. “2024 and we’re putting dv [domestic violence] jokes into our action comedies I guess!”

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.