The A-Team 2 Isn't Happening: Here's Why The Sequel Was Cancelled (2024)

The A-Team received a big-screen movie release in 2010, and sequel The A-Team 2 was supposed to follow but ended up being canceled, leaving the potentially explosive franchise remains dormant. The A-Team is based on a classic TV series from the 1980s about an elite Special Forces unit framed for a crime they didn't commit who went on the run. Each episode finds them helping people in need against various criminals and villains. The A-Team came to an end after five seasons and, after years in development hell, the movie dropped in 2010.

With Joe Carnahan behind the camera, Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson, and Sharlto Copley took on the roles of Hannibal, Face, B.A., and Murdock respectively. The A-Team received a lackluster response, with the consensus being that it was a fun but forgettable blockbuster. The film adaptation of The A-Team was meant to kick off a franchise. However, a variety of reasons prevented that from happening and, in the end, The A-Team 2 ended up canceled, and the franchise ended with one movie.

The A-Team Movie Underperformed

Low Box Office & Critical Reviews Killed The A-Team 2

The main reason The A-Team 2 never happened was financial, as the first movie in the intended franchise significantly underperformed. Despite its name cast and blockbuster status, The A-Team didn't finish with great box office numbers. The budget was an estimated $110 million, but it only made $77 million domestically (via The Numbers).

Factoring in the international box office, The A-Team made $177 million in total, but considering marketing and other costs, it was a definitive financial disappointment. The A-Team reviews were also not great, sitting at 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. With a low box office and no critical acclaim, The A-Team 2's chances died.

The Cast And Director Quickly Ruled Out An A-Team 2

Joe Carnahan Blames The Box Office On A-Team 2 Cancelation

The crew behind The A-Team movie wasted no time pretending The A-Team 2 was still coming after its release. Joe Carnahan stated that the first A-Team movie didn't make enough money to justify another, which Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson mirrored in later interviews. Little is known about the plot for a sequel, other than the original A-Team movie ending with a tease that Jon Hamm's Agent Lynch would be a major threat. Bradley Cooper seemingly put a nail in the coffin in a 2023 interview (via Fandom Wire).

"I loved it too. But unfortunately outside of you, a few of your friends, and myself, there just wasn’t enough revenue to supply a second installment of that franchise."

An A-Team TV Reboot Was Announced In 2015

An A-Team TV Show Was Also Shelved After Its Announcement

While there's been no sign of life when it comes to The A-Team 2, news arrived in 2015 that The A-Team was being rebooted for a new TV show. Fast & Furious franchise writer Chris Morgan was hired to produce this new version for Fox. The TV show would have featured male and female members of the team as they try to clear their names and uncover a conspiracy. Like The A-Team 2, however, this TV reboot never came to pass. There have been no developments on it since the original announcement.

A-Team Is Far From The Only Underwhelming 80s Remake

The A-Team Wasn't The Only Remake Failure In 2010

The A-Team was one of several 80s remake attempts to bomb in the early 21st century. Comeback projects like this generate plenty of initial nostalgic buzz but often fail to live up to their source material. Horror films like Poltergeist, Friday the 13th, and The Thing are all iconic, beloved 80s classics, but all were unwitting victims of distinctly underwhelming remakes in the 2010s. In 2010 alone, The Karate Kid, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Clash of the Titans joined The A-Team as reboot failures at the box office.

Reboots and revivals continue to be a prevalent way of making "new" content, however, so The A-Team is unlikely to be the last underwhelming 80s remake. While Joe Carnahan's movie has its fans, The A-Team 2 is very unlikely to be revived at this point.

What The A-Team Cast Has Been Up To Since

The Stars Have All Continued To Find Success Even Without The A-Team 2

2010's The A-Team had an all-star cast, which was a key reason it was so surprising that it was a flop at the box-office and that The A-Team 2 never saw the light of day. Given the star-power of the roster and the fact that The A-Team is a beloved small-screen franchise, it seemed like the movie was a recipe for success. However, the movie failing didn't impede the careers of the cast, with all of them going on to appear in multiple successful projects in the years since.

Liam Neeson starred as Hannibal in The A-Team movie, and the star already had an incredibly lengthy career prior to its release. He also appeared in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Next Three Days the same year. In the years that followed, he reprized his role as Bryan Mills for Taken 2 in 2012, voiced Bad Cop in 2014's The Lego Movie (the same year Taken 3 arrived), and continues to have feature-film roles such as the upcoming 2025 movie The Naked Gun.

2010 was the start of Bradley Cooper's career-breakout, with his role as Templeton Peck in The A-Team arriving a year after he played Phil in The Hangover. In 2011 he played Eddie in Limitless which, like The Hangover, was a defining role for TheA-Team star. He went on to reprise his role as Phil in The Hangover 2 & 3, and also voiced Rocket Racoon in the MCU. Bradley Cooper's most recent headline-grabbing role was portraying Leonard Bernstein in the biopic Maestro, which he also wrote, directed, and produced.

Like most of the cast of The A-Team, Jessica Biel had also been active for several decades prior to the 2010 movie's release. Among her notable roles afterward include playing Melina in 2012's Total Recall and Penny in The Book of Love. However, her most recent feature-film appearance was in 2017's Shock and Awe, though she does continue to act on the small screen.

Quinton Jackson, who played B.A. Baracus, started his career as an MMA fighter and pro wrestler, so most of his career both before and after The A-Team has been in the ring. The 2010 movie wasn't his final movie appearance though, as he also went on to appear in movies like Bob Thunder: Internet Assassin in 2015 and in 2021's Boss Level.

Like Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley's career was experiencing a definite boom when he took on the role of Murdock in The A-Team. Copley's breakout role was playing Wikus in District 9, which arrived a year before The A-Team. He went on to appear in Elysium, Oldboy, Chappie, Maleficent, and Hardcore Henry in the years that followed (among others). His most recent appearance was alongside Dev Patel in 2024's Monkey Man.

Finally, Patrick Wilson's role as Agent Lynch in The A-Team arrived a few years prior to his big break. While he also appeared in 2009's Watchmen as Nite Owl and 2010's Insidious as Josh, it wasn't until he portrayed Ed Warren in 2013's The Conjuring that his career really took off. He's appeared in multiple The Conjuring sequels since, and Insidious has also retroactively gained a cult following. While The A-Team didn't quite launch the action movie career he may have hoped for, Patrick Wilson went on to firmly cement his reputation as a staple of modern horror movies.

The A-Team

Based on the 1980s TV series of the same name, The A-Team follows a team of Special Forces operatives who are falsely imprisoned, and escape in order to clear their names. Starring Liam Neeson as John "Hannibal" Smith, Bradley Cooper as Templeton "Face" Peck,Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as Bosco "B.A." Baracus, andSharlto Copley as H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, the titular team find themselves at the heart of a conspiracy that runs far deeper than they could ever have imagined.

Release Date

June 10, 2010

Director

Joe Carnahan

Cast

Liam Neeson , Bradley Cooper , Jessica Biel , Quinton Jackson , Sharlto Copley , Patrick Wilson

Writers

Joe Carnahan , Brian Bloom , Skip Woods

Studio(s)

Dune Entertainment , Scott Free Productions

Distributor(s)

20th Century Fox