The uncertainties surrounding the Now You See Me saga have long echoed: we have reached the third chapter, so it’s fair to admit that the capers of the thief-illusionists Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco are beloved by a substantial portion of the audience. Not extraordinary numbers, but we’re nonetheless talking about a fairly solid brand. During the production of the first film, however, the cast’s opinion of the project wasn’t exactly rosy, quite the opposite! The ever-ironical Franco revealed it, on the hot seat of a Hot Ones episode!
Dave Franco admits that the cast didn’t have faith in Now You See Me
Now You See Me – The Magicians of Crime (2013) by Louis Leterrier worked: it grossed worldwide over $350 million, against a budget of about $75 million. The sequel Now You See Me 2: The Magicians of Crime (2016, by Jon M. Chu) did quite well too, pulling in $335 million, albeit for a higher cost around $100 million (Deadline source). The latest chapter is currently the third, The Perfect Illusion – Now You See Me 3 (2025) by Ruben Fleischer, with a $90 million budget, almost $250 million at the global box office, in decline but not yet a sign of collapse. And indeed, the cast themselves during the making of the original did not think that a third chapter would ever come…
Dave Franco explains: “Now I can say it because we’ve now made three. Back then, the Now You See Me series… I remember that at the end of the first day of filming it seemed such chaos to us that we went to dinner and literally toasted to the end of our careers! […] Fifteen years later, we’ve made three and there’s another one on the way. […] Over the years I’ve learned to never have expectations. Now I know how hard it is to have a film that blows up. Now, when a movie hits big, I take it as a pleasant surprise. I approach every single film thinking only: let’s hope it goes well. In short, I always try to give my best, but who knows? […] You have to accept that you can’t know and let the audience decide.”
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