Joe Cornish Wants Attack The Block 2 To Live Up To These Iconic Sci-Fi Sequels

The number one job on a franchise's number two to-do list is to surpass somehow what came before. There's no point venturing back to old turf if you've got nothing new to plant there, and the hope is that director Joe Cornish and John Boyega have something special when they revisit their surprise smash sci-fi hit, "Attack the Block" with a sequel. It's been 12 years since "The Woman King" star pedaled onto our screens with a samurai sword and an attitude to face off alien invaders on his apartment block as Moses in South London. Since then, his career has continued to ascend. From three stints in "Star Wars" (albeit grossly underused) to soon sharing the screen with Jamie Foxx in "They Cloned Tyrone," he's a name welcomed by audiences around the world.

Anticipation should undoubtedly be reaching the top floor then, with news from Cornish that work is well underway in bringing Moses back to his home turf to face old foes from well outside his area. Understandably though, as the production wheels start turning, the pressure is on for both Cornish and Boyega — working together as co-producers this time around — to meet the standards set by science fiction sequels that have become staples of cinema history. It's looking to these legendary entries that Cornish reveals he hopes can be replicated when it's finally time to return to the block.

Speaking to Fangoria, Cornish revealed that the iconic sequels of the big screen are something he can't ignore. But when considering Chapter 2 of Moses' face-off with otherworldly beings, what kind of sequels are being considered? Well, they're precisely the sort of big-picture follow-ups you can expect that the "Attack the Block" sequel is daring to venture near.

"We think about 'Alien' and 'Aliens' and 'Terminator' and 'Terminator 2,'" Cornish explained, picking from the top shelf of James Cameron's greatest. "We wanna take a shot at doing our version of what people did for those movies." Factoring these examples in gives an exciting idea of where Cornish and Boyega hope to go with sharp-fanged follow-up. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and his most superior sequel, "Aliens" added something new into familiar territory to up the ante, including advanced cyborg assassins and an angry Xenomorph Queen. Could part two of "Attack the Block" see Moses facing off against a new breed of space beast that could cause even more trouble than his first fight? Whatever it is, we can't wait to find out.