It Ends with Us has become one of the biggest surprise hits of the summer movie season, but a sequel now feels highly unlikely following the feud between star/producer Blake Lively and director/star Justin Baldoni. It Ends with Us is based on a popular book of the same name, which does have a sequel novel titled It Starts with Us, making for an easy way to make a follow-up to the $242 million worldwide hit. Yet weeks before the film’s release, rumors circulated of a feud between Lively and Baldoni, which put a sequel in doubt.
According to Variety, sources told them that the bad blood between Lively and Baldoni is very real, and the relationship may not be salvageable to make a sequel. One would assume Lively is the most important to bring on board since she is the lead character and producer of the film. In contrast, Baldoni’s character has a minor role in the novel, and he could easily step aside as director and either take a small role in the film or even be recast, but it is not that simple. Baldoni and his production company hold cinematic rights to both It Ends with Us and It Starts with Us.
Moreover, Baldoni acquired the rights to the book in 2019, three years after It Ends with Us was published, but before it blew up into a worldwide phenomenon on TikTok in 2021, so the deal he made was not for an option that would expire. Instead, he holds the film rights and does not need to renew the agreement. A source told Variety, “There’s probably no world where these two will work together again.”
It Ends at the Box Office
The behind-the-scenes troubles with It Ends with Us are almost as high profile as the movie itself and might have contributed to audience curiosity about the movie. Fans first noticed that Baldoni did not take any photos with the cast at the film’s New York premiere on August 6, 2024, and didn’t even introduce the movie with Lively. Baldoni did all of his press separately while Lively was paired with her other on-screen romantic co-star, Brandon Sklenar. It was also noted that Lively, It Ends with Us Colleen Hoover, and many of the film’s cast unfollowed Baldoni on social media.
Since the movie hit theaters, more reports have come out, but no clear answer has been given, and even Variety could not get details on what caused the split. Baldoni reportedly felt like Lively and her husband and producer Ryan Reynolds were taking control of the project. Meanwhile, Lively reportedly felt uncomfortable around Baldoni, in both a kiss scene that she said went on too long and feeling body shammed by Baldoni in one scene where he had to pick her up, but Baldoni reportedly did that as a health and safety precautions as he has a history of back pain and did not want to hurt himself.
Other reports have suggested that Lively and author Colleen Hoover thought that Baldoni was being dismissive of the female voices on set, particularly troubling given the subject of It Ends with Us being about a woman in an abusive relationship. Things were so bad following the fallout of the movie that Baldoni hired a crisis PR team. Nothing has been confirmed about what happened on the It Ends with Us set.
It Ends with Us has become a runaway box office hit. It had an impressive $50 million opening weekend and has held on well at the box office in the following weeks, having grossed $120 million domestically against a $25 million budget. It has outgrossed more conventional summer blockbuster titles like The Fall Guy and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. In any other situation, the sequel would have been immediately greenlit to cash in on the film’s success, but this scenario is where the rift might be too big to mend.
