Although I don’t think there was anyone still holding out strong hope that it was going to happen, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy star Martin Freeman has stated that the next book in Douglas Adams’ science-fiction satire, The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe, will not be making its way to the big screen.
According to an interview over at MTV’s Movies Blog, Freeman was quoted as saying-
There isn’t [any possibility of a sequel] at this point. I found that out from the horse’s mouth, [director] Garth Jennings. I had dinner with him and he said [the first one] just didn’t do well enough.
Met with, at best, lukewarm reviews (58% on Rotten Tomatoes), the original film did manage to only make a bit more than a million dollars over its production budget of $50 million. Many fans of the original books/radio series expressed disapproval of several of the new characters and plotlines that Adams added into the screenplay that he was working on at the time of his death in 2001. I found that much of the included material disrupted the pace of the story which had become solidly ingrained in my mind of the years.
However, I have to admit a bit of disappointment Jennings won’t be bringing the second book to life. For all of the film’s shortcomings in the screenplay department, Jennings managed to bring a certain visual flair to the film and would have liked to see him further explore Adams’s demented universe.
Via Film Ick.