Following the success of the George Clooney-directed film 'Boys in the Boat', MGM studios has greenlit a sequel.
The project is in the early stages according to Cliff Dudley, a studio executive tasked with developing what MGM now hopes could become a franchise or extended universe based on stories of Olympic gold medal eights.
"We have all the these actors who can row now," said Dudley, "and some great momentum from the first film."
"It turns out that the US won the Olympics pretty much every four years back in the day," he added, referring to the American's string of victories in the Men's Eight from the 1920 to 1956 Games.
"That's a lot of intellectual property to build a franchise around," said Dudley.
According to Dudley, the leading contenders for 'BITB2: Gold Again' would be the 1952 Navy crew--"they beat the Soviet Union, which is almost as good as the Nazi storyline in the original film," he said--or the 1964 champions.
"A club team beating the best colleges and then the whole world in 1964 is another great underdog story," said Dudley, "and the fact that the club was from Philly gives us a whole 'Rocky' vibe to tap into."
He would not rule out more recent stories, noting that a little de-aging technology might even help filmakers cast actual members of the 2004 champions.
MGM is considering running a poll to choose the next "BITB"story, probably on row2k.com, a rowing site that George Clooney once heard about, according to Dudley.