Among poker fans, there are surely very few films that have better represented the pastime than the 1998 movie Rounders, and the huge cult following that the Matt Damon masterpiece still enjoys more than a quarter of a century since its release is evidence of its enduring popularity.
The chance to see Damon reprise his role as Mike McDermott will no doubt leave many very excited indeed, and by all accounts, the Oscar-winning actor is ready to get back into the character should the opportunity arise.
Rounders actually proved something of a disappointment in terms of box office success when it first opened, making $22.9 million, but it has gone on to become a much-loved film with a huge fanbase.
It was released at a time when poker was starting to increase its broad appeal, which is in marked contrast to just how huge the game is now, with online poker in 2024 being a billion-dollar business, which is a further illustration of just how popular it has become.
n the possibility of a potential sequel getting off the ground, Matt Damon has recently commented,
“The one that we’ve been talking about for years — and I just saw Edward Norton a few weeks ago, [and] all of us want to do it — is a second Rounders movie,”
“Because so much has happened in that poker world in the last 25 years, it would be fun to catch up with those guys.”
However, there are apparently issues in relation to the rights for the movie and any potential follow-up, with Damon adding,
“You’ve got to figure out the chain of title and who owns it, and everybody’s got their hand in the pot,”
“So we’ve got to figure out a way to make a deal that makes sense for everybody, particularly the people who are going to make the movie because at Artists Equity, that’s who we care about — the cast and crew. We’re trying to figure that out because I think we’d all like to do that.”
The movie expertly characterized the many different facets of Poker as well as bringing to life strong roles and portrayals of the types of individuals who enjoy the game so much. As well as Damon, others to bring the film to life included John Malkovich, who put on a star turn as the ludicrously over-the-top Russian mobster Teddy “KGB”, Edward Norton’s troubled Lester “Worm” Murphy and John Turturro’s turn as Joey Knish.
Apparently, some time ago, the potential for a sequel was already very much in the works, with Matt Damon revealing his thoughts on how things would pan out for his character,
“What they had 10 years ago, I thought, was fantastic, and I’m sure they could augment and roll with the times and update it to where we are today and make something great,” before adding,
“That’s one of those movies that, it came out and didn’t do well,”
“When it came out, it kind of bombed, and then it got discovered by people later. When that happens, people feel a sense of ownership, like, ‘Hey, that’s my movie. I was a champion of that movie even when no one else was.’ So it feels like there’s a lot of goodwill behind it. But we gotta figure out if we can make it happen.”
Fans of the original would no doubt welcome the production of a Rounders 2, but Damon clearly thinks highly enough of the original to now want to just rush in and cash out, which means that hopefully, if and when a sequel is made, it will be a film that stands on its own on merit.
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