After nearly four years, Violent Night 2 is finally happening. David Harbour is returning as Santa Claus for another slay ride. The sequel to the 2022 bloody Christmas action flick was originally announced in early 2023. At long last though, it’s coming and Universal Pictures brought a teaser trailer to CinemaCon, which is currently happening in Las Vegas. While they didn’t release the footage online yet, it did confirm who is playing Mrs. Claus.
The role is filled by none other than Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), per The Hollywood Handle. She was included in the footage and will now be adding yet another franchise to her impressive resume. Bell’s credits also include Frozen, The Good Place, Bad Moms, Zootopia and Nobody Wants This, among many others. Tommy Wirkola is also returning to direct the sequel. A tagline for the sequel, “Big Nick Energy,” was also reportedly revealed. No word yet on when the teaser will make its way online to the general public but it should be sooner rather than later.
Hunter Bolding of That Hashtag Show also shared some plot details on Twitter saying, “Violent Night 2 sees Santa Claus losing his powers and ending up on the naughty list. Some of the same kind of gonzo action as the first film, with a particularly insane scene involving a cookie cutter and some bad guys losing flesh.”
The original Violent Night was a sneaky little hit. It made $76 million at the box office against a modest budget. Christmas movies though, if they work, tend to pay off for years to come as people watch them annually. For that reason, it’s very unsurprising that Universal decided to pull the trigger on another one. It’s just a little surprising that it took so long.
Harbour confirmed in December 2024 that the sequel was still happening. Good to his word, it’s now in the can and coming our way later this year. Universal has a lot for genre fans to enjoy coming down the pipeline this year, with Steven Spielberg's alien movie Disclosure Day arriving this summer, while Robert Eggers’ Werwulf is also on deck. A teaser for Eggers’ latest was also shown but not released online. Unfortunatley, a lot of the footage shown at CinemaCon tends to be exclusive for those in attendance.
Violent Night 2 is currently set to hit theaters on December 4.
