Bad Santa 3 may finally be on its way. Billy Bob Thornton, who played the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking Willie T. Soke across both films in the franchise, spoke with The Direct and revealed he has heard a story pitch for a third installment that he considers "pretty good." The news comes as Scary Movie 6 topped the box office on its opening weekend, reigniting the appetite for early 2000s comedy revivals.
Speaking with The Direct at the Newport Beach TV Fest, where he was promoting his Paramount+ series Landman, Billy Bob Thornton was asked whether any of the countless Bad Santa 3 pitches he received over the years showed promise. His answer was cautiously optimistic, "It's the first one I've heard that really kind of made sense:"
"I just heard one about two weeks ago. It's the first one I've heard that really kind of made sense. Not that we know we're going to do it, but there is one that's floating around out there that seems pretty good."
That is about as close to a green light as the franchise has gotten, and even that is probably a stretch. But given the current landscape, it may be something Miramax may want to look into.
This latest update comes about five months after Thornton appeared on The Tonight Show, where the actor said his manager had "heard [a pitch] that he really likes."
Scary Movie 6 is not alone in proving that audiences still have an appetite for early 2000s comedy revivals. Freakier Friday, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Happy Gilmore 2, and Mean Girls (2024) have all shown that Hollywood has grown comfortable betting on nostalgia for that era. Bad Santa, with its cult following and dark holiday edge, could fit in nicely, whether on streaming or in theaters.
The franchise's history, however, is a more complicated story. The original Bad Santa, released 23 years ago, was a sleeper hit. Thornton's performance earned solid reviews for its humor and grossed more than $76 million worldwide against a $23 million budget.
The 2016 sequel told a different story, literally and commercially. Bad Santa 2 failed to recapture what made the original work so effective. Critics savaged it, and audiences mostly stayed home, leaving the film to gross just $23 million globally against a $26 million production budget.
Thornton's positive-leaning comments do not change the reality of a Bad Santa 3 overnight. There are no plans for Bad Santa 3, and a well-received pitch is a long way from a true greenlit production. But it is one of the most encouraging signs the franchise has had in years.
Would Billy Bob Thornton Return for Bad Santa 3?
Billy Bob Thornton is in a different place professionally than he was when Bad Santa 2 underperformed. His role in Taylor Sheridan's Landman has turned into one of the biggest television success stories in recent memory.
His performance as Tommy Norris earned him the TV Performance of the Year Award at the Newport Beach TV Fest, and he is already set to return for the show's third season, despite past Landman concerns.
That renewed career momentum, combined with comedy's current nostalgia cycle, means the timing for a Bad Santa revival has arguably never been better.
Narratively, Bad Santa 2 left Willie in a position that sets up a third film fairly naturally. After turning his own double-crossing mother over to the police and scattering the heist money into a crowd, he ended up working as a janitor at the same charity he tried to rob. The open-endedness of the closing moments leaves a lot of possibilities on the table for Willie, another 10-plus years later.
