Back in January, Gerard Butler vowed that fans of his current hit action franchise would not have to endure a long wait for a sequel to Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Considering those fans had a seven-year wait between this year’s sequel and the original 2018 movie, that was a welcome promise, but a new filming update on Den of Thieves 3 has suggested that the next movie will not be releasing as quickly as some would like.
Although it is clear that Den of Thieves 3 is moving along at a much quicker pace than its predecessor, which was stuck in development hell for a number of reasons including the Covid pandemic and various Hollywood strikes, Butler’s costar O’Shea Jackson Jr. revealed in an Instagram post that filming on the next movie is still between six and nine months away, which would suggest that a sequel will not be released until 2027 at the earliest. While this would be a huge improvement on the wait between the first two movies, and a much more regular two years, there will still be some fans who hoped it would arrive a little earlier.
In his post, Jackson Jr. wrote, “9 months down. Give me another 9 and it’s GG. Let’s call it another 6 months. D3N of THI3V3S. Den 3 comin’.”
To be honest, a two-year wait between movies is not out of the ordinary, and though Butler’s previous gesturing about how he wanted to get working on the threequel as soon as possible, a 2027 release seems like the earliest anyone could really expect. It is probably best to just be thankful that it is not closer to 2030, as it could have been if it followed a similar timeline to Pantera.
‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’ was a Moderate Success
In 2018, Gerard Butler added another action movie hit to his resume with Den of Thieves. The movie made over $80 million at the box office from its $30 million budget, and while it was given a “rotten” 42% score by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, its’ 63% audience score showed that potential for a franchise to be born.
However, fans had to wait until January 2025 for the sequel to arrive, and Den of Thieves 2: Pantera delivered a mixed bag when it finally burst onto the big screen. Critic and audience reviews were much more positive (62% and 79%, respectively), and the film endeared itself to more people than the first time around, thanks in large part to the chemistry of its leads. However, its increased $40 million budget meant that the $58 million haul was not that impressive, even though it did debut at number one with a similar opening haul to the first movie.
Naturally, the box office performance of any movie these days is only part of the story, and the film’s subsequent VOD and streaming releases – including a successful stint in the Netflix streaming chart in March 2025 – were more than satisfactory to Lionsgate. By that time, Den of Thieves 3 and the return of Butler’s “Big Nick” O’Brien had already been confirmed.
There have been very few details revealed so far about what fans can expect from Den of Thieves 3, but the second movie ended with plenty of scope for the sequel to pick up the same cat-and-mouse theme that has become the franchise’s main plot. Director Christian Gudegast is expected to return again for the third outing, and with both Butler and Jackson Jr. on board, it seems that fans will be getting more of what made the first two movies popular among action fans. Hopefully, it will be worth the two-year wait.
- Director
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Christian Gudegast
- Writers
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Christian Gudegast
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Nicholas ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien
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O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Donnie Wilson
