National Treasure spoke to the hearts and minds of many a young history enthusiast — and action thriller fans everywhere — when it hit theaters in 2004. The box office smash featured Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates, an explorer who steals the Declaration of Independence in his quest to find a hidden treasure. A sequel, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, was released in 2007 and improved on the first film's box office return. Talk about a third film started shortly after, and although rumors have persisted over the years, nothing has come of those stories. Unfortunately for fans of the franchise, production appears to have stalled on the third film. Here's why it's unlikely that Disney will ever actually release National Treasure 3.


Busy producer

Famed producer Jerry Bruckheimer is the man behind many of your favorite action movie franchises, including Beverly Hills Cop, Bad Boys, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Jerry Bruckheimer Films was also one of the production companies that worked on the National Treasure series, but that might be what's holding up a potential third film. Bruckheimer has said that he's still looking to, quote, "get this thing going" in reference to the third film, but right now his plate is pretty full with his work on long-awaited sequels for some of his other popular franchises. These films include Bad Boys for Life, a third installment in the Bad Boys series. He's also working on a Tom Cruise-led Top Gun sequel, titled Top Gun: Maverick, which is slated for a 2019 release. With so many other movies awaiting his attention, Bruckheimer likely doesn't have much time to devote to National Treasure 3.


Fact-checking

The National Treasure films may not be the most historically accurate to ever grace the big screen... ...but apparently quite a lot of research still goes into making them, and that could be part of what's delayed National Treasure 3 for so long. As Cage revealed in 2016, it's been a challenge getting the script "where it needs to be" thanks to the unique constraints of the franchise. He told Entertainment Weekly, "I do know that those scripts are very difficult to write, because there has to be some credibility in terms of the facts and fact-checking, because it was relying on historical events. And then you have to make it entertaining."
Jon Turteltaub, who directed both films and is attached to the third, also said script issues have been plaguing the film, telling Collider in 2013, "[It's] so damn hard to write a great historical mystery based on fact." Turtletaub said at the time that he thought they'd be shooting the film within two years, but it appears that getting the script just right has been a longer process than he anticipated.


Critical aversion

Critical success isn't always tied to box office success, and the National Treasure franchise is a perfect example of that principle in action. The franchise has even earned a number of nominations at the Golden Raspberry Awards, honoring the worst Hollywood has to offer, including a Worst Actor nod for Cage for Book of Secrets. The fact that critics were never on board with the franchise could be something that has deterred the studio from ordering another movie. The falling critical and box office returns of other franchises like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean hint that reviews do matter, and making another film in a franchise that's already earned critics' ire could be too great a risk.


Cage's decline

The National Treasure franchise managed to improve its grosses from the first film to the second, but Nicolas Cage has been seeing his box office returns fall for quite some time now. Aside from his Ghost Rider franchise, Kick-Ass, and his voice role in The Croods, Cage has led a series of commercial flops in recent years, which could make the studio reluctant to rely on him as a leading man once again. Cage has reportedly been taking roles "left and right" the past decade to help him pay off his debts, which could explain his string of smaller films. Financial need may be enough to get him back to the franchise, but the studio could be leery of signing a star whose box office appeal is in question.


Disney's priorities

A lot has changed for Disney since Book of Secrets hit theaters in 2007. While the studio was never a minor player in the movie marketplace, their influence has been stepped up significantly in the past few years, mostly thanks to major moves in picking up Marvel and Lucasfilm. Since the last National Treasure was released, Disney gained a lot more franchises to work with, and they're not slowing down. They don't need to go back to a franchise that's been in limbo for a decade.


Changing landscape

A solid franchise used to be a guarantee that audiences would turn out for a movie, but the box office has changed a lot in recent years. Recent franchises that have seen diminishing returns at the box office include Bruckheimer's Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Transformers franchise, Tom Cruise's The Mummy and Dwayne Johnson's Baywatch. While there are a few high-profile exceptions, including Marvel's continued box office dominance, it's risky to assume National Treasure would be one of them, which could be just one more reason Disney won't release National Treasure 3.

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