Summary
David Fincher’s celebrated 2011 thrillerThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoowas supposed to be the acclaimed director’s first and only film trilogy. Fincher, who is known for his multiple outstanding movies such asSe7en,Zodiac,Gone Girl, andThe Social Network, is still making great films such as 2023’sThe Killerstarring Michael Fassbender.The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which stars Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, and Stellan Skarsgård, is often considered one ofDavid Fincher’s best movies.
Based on theMillenniumbook trilogy written by Stieg Larsson,The Girl with the Dragon Tattoowas Fincher’s immediate follow-up to his Oscar-winning filmThe Social Network(2010) and also won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Film Editing. It was released on August 17, 2025, and is currently streaming on Max. Amazon is developing aGirl with the Dragon Tattooserieswith showrunner Veena Sud, although Fincher is not reportedly involved.
Fincher still has never made a movie trilogy
Upon the 2011 release of hisThe Girl with the Dragon Tattooadaptation, Fincher announced that he was planning to adapt the other two novels of theMillenniumbook trilogy by Larsson,The Girl Who Played with FireandThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. Both had already been adapted for film but Fincher was planning to expand on hisThe Girl with the Dragon Tattooadaptation and retain lead actors Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig, who played Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, respectively.
Although Fincher’sThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoowas a critical success, its box office wasn’t necessarily impressive by Sony’s standards at the time, earning just under $240 million worldwide against a production budget of $90 million. With Daniel Craig at the height of his 007 fame andFincher reportedly wanting to increase the budgetfor his anticipatedThe Girl Who Played with Firemovie, Sony ultimately decided to pull the plug on Fincher’s budding franchise, which would have been the first of its kind.
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Alvarez could make the film for less than Fincher’s sequel
Fede Alvarez emerged as an up-and-coming horror director after Fincher’sThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoocame out. He rose to prominence with his feature film debut, 2013’sEvil Dead, and 2016’sDon’t Breathe, both of which were made with small production budgets. Sony likely did not want to reinvest in Fincher’s adaptation of the franchise, whichwould have undoubtedly cost more given Daniel Craig’s height in popularity as James Bondand Fincher’s own request for a larger budget.
Sony tapped Alvarez to makeThe Girl in the Spider’s Web, the fourth book of the Millennium series and the first by a new author, for $43 million. Still, Sony’s attempt to cut costs backfired as Alvarez’s adaptation failed at the box office, earning just $35 million worldwide. Of course, hindsight is seen in 20/20, but the $240 million gross of Fincher’sThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoodoesn’t seem like as much of a “flop” as Sony made it out to be at the time, especially in today’s box office.
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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Cast
Based on the award-winning novel by Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) as he searches for a woman who has been missing for 40 years. Along the way, he makes an unexpected ally in Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who is a computer hacker and survivor of a traumatic childhood. The film is directed by David Fincher and won an Oscar in 2012 for Best Achievement in Film Editing.
