Mark Wahlberg Revives Buzz For An Italian Job Sequel—Is The Heist Back On?

Mark Wahlberg has done just about everything since the early 2000s — starred in more than 45 movies, racked up roughly as many producing credits, scored an Oscar nomination, built businesses, raised four kids, got married, and picked up a star on the Walk of Fame. Yet 23 years after his sharpest action thriller hit big, he still has not come back for seconds on that one. Not for lack of trying.

The one that got away: The Italian Job

Ask ten Wahlberg fans for their favorite, and 2003's The Italian Job will land near the top. The remake assembled a loaded crew: Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Edward Norton, Seth Green, and the late Donald Sutherland. It plays as a true ensemble — Theron coolly cracking safes, Green stealing scenes as the motor-mouthed tech wizard, Statham putting the pedal down, and Wahlberg anchoring the revenge plot after a teammate betrays the crew and runs off with north of $35 million in gold. It is slick, funny, and still works.

The movie pulled in about $176 million worldwide on a roughly $60 million budget, the kind of return that usually screams 'franchise me.' It also arrived at the same time audiences were eating up glossy crew-capers like Ocean's Eleven. So why did nothing happen?

So where did the sequel go?

For years, fans heard about The Brazilian Job, a follow-up that was supposedly being written and rewritten behind the scenes. Seth Green backed that up in 2023. He said the chatter started on set when one brutally cold shoot convinced producer Donald De Line to daydream out loud about a warmer sequel title.

Producer Donald De Line joked the next one should be set 'somewhere exotic' and called 'The Brazilian Job.'

According to Green, the movie's success kicked things into gear, but studio shake-ups did not help. He said the studio cycled through four different bosses in the years after release, and development never found stable footing.

'Over a five-year period, I read three different drafts,' Green said, adding that whenever he ran into Mark Wahlberg or Donald De Line, they would tell him, 'This is going to happen.'

It did not happen. The project slid into development quicksand. Meanwhile, everyone involved got busier. Wahlberg stayed a top-billed draw. Statham stacked action franchises (Fast & Furious, The Expendables). Theron won an Oscar for Monster the very next year and never looked back. Momentum faded, calendars filled, and The Brazilian Job turned into a what-if.

Yes, Wahlberg does sequels — just not this one

For all the talk that he moves on fast, Wahlberg is not anti-sequel. Out of more than 60 features, he has circled back four times: Ted 2, Transformers: The Last Knight, Daddy's Home 2, and the in-the-works The Family Plan 2. So the reluctance was never about the idea of returning — it was about timing, priorities, and a sequel that never quite got the green light it needed.

Could The Brazilian Job still happen?

Short answer: it could. Hard answer: it would take a small miracle of scheduling and a studio actually prioritizing it. By the numbers (per public listings), Wahlberg currently has around 24 projects in development, Theron about 25, and Statham six. Green stays busy in voice work. Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) has barely acted since 2016. The studio also has a full plate, with its streaming arm hustling to keep pace with the big platforms. Getting this crew to carve out the same window would require a clear runway and a real commitment.

• What stalled it before: multiple studio regime changes, years of script churn (at least three drafts read by Green), no locked production window, and a cast whose careers exploded in different directions.

Should it happen?

Absolutely. 2026 is already thick with high-profile sequels, and audiences keep proving they will show up for smart franchise plays. Wahlberg (54), Theron (50), and Statham (58) are still operating at a level most action stars dream about, but the kind of precision driving and stunt-heavy theft ballet that made The Italian Job pop does not get easier with time. If the studio is even thinking about it, the window is open now.

The upside is obvious: a reunion of those three — plus Green and Bey, if they are game — is the kind of event sequel that prints money. Passing on that would be a head-scratcher. A hypothetical Ocean's 14 might be the only thing that could out-buzz it.

Bottom line: The Italian Job already proved the team knows how to pull off the perfect score. If the studio wants another payday, it just has to stage the getaway right this time.