It’s hard to quantify the success of The Social Network. It made $224 million at the box office against a $40 million budget; it was nominated for eight Oscars, winning three; it recently placed at No. 10 on both the New York Times’ industry poll and readers poll for the best movies of the 21st century. So … let’s make another one, right? That always goes well. The Social Network’s “follow-up” is in development at Sony with Aaron Sorkin returning to direct in addition to writing the script. Below, everything we know about the sequel that’s not exactly a sequel.
Is there a cast?
As far as we know, Jesse Eisenberg is not attached to return as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Anora’s Oscar winner Mikey Madison and The Bear star Jeremy Allen White are in talks to star in the film, per Deadline. They would play the lead roles, though no offers have been made.
So what’s it about, if not Mark Zuckerberg?
The film will be based on 2021 Wall Street Journal reports “The Facebook Files,” by Jeff Horwitz (JAW?). Based on leaked internal documents from Facebook, the reports claim Facebook allowed celebrities and public figures (like Donald Trump) to post content that regular users (like activists) would not be allowed to post, then did not tell its Oversight Committee. They also allege that Facebook’s response to human and drug trafficking on the site was “weak” and that Facebook knew that Instagram is “toxic” for teen girls but downplayed the negative effects publicly. The documents that the reporting was based on were gathered and disclosed by Frances Haugen, a product manager on Facebook’s civic integrity team. Could that be Madison’s role?
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What’s the latest update?
Sony hasn’t even green-lit this thing. It’s currently still in development, produced by Sorkin, Todd Black, Peter Rice, and Stuart Besser. Remember, boys, you don’t get to 500 million theatergoers without making a few enemies.
