Back in 2011, comedy was still very much a theatrical experience with massive hits like The Hangover and its sequels, along with comedies from Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, and the like. Amidst that boom, New Line released Horrible Bosses, a high-concept R-rated comedy starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day as three friends, whose titular bosses are causing them so much aggravation, they devise a plot to kill them. Day plays Dale, whose boss, Dr. Julia Harris, played by Jennifer Aniston, is a dentist who is constantly coming onto him with flagrant sexual harassment. At the time, the joke may have been that the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star doesn’t seem like a likely subject of sexual advances, but that was only funny before the 2017 #MeToo movement, which included allegations against their co-star, Kevin Spacey.
Even bearing that in mind, Aniston must have enjoyed her time making the movie, because in a recent profile for People, Aniston stated she regularly speaks with her co-stars Bateman and Day about the potential for a Horrible Bosses 3, and shockingly, she would be willing to do another movie. And, if they were able to update the material for a 2025 audience, a third film could be a genius idea.
As she told People:
“Jason Bateman and I were talking about that, and Charlie Day has been talking about it a lot too, so that’s something that we think would be super fun. The characters are hilarious, and we need comedy. I personally think comedy is a necessity. That’s one that we would have a really fun time, I think, going back to, seeing where those crazy cats are today.”
The Original ‘Horrible Bosses’ Put Aniston In a Different Role for the Actress
Casting Aniston in the original Horrible Bosses may have been considered a huge coup. She was already considered a major comedy star, due to her time on the Emmy-winning hit sitcom, Friends, but she had starred with Jim Carrey in the blockbuster, Bruce Almighty. She was also coming off the Adam Sandler comedy, Just Go With It, and the little-seen The Switch with Bateman, who may have contributed to her decision to join Horrible Bosses and play very much against type, compared to her squeaky clean Rachel character from Friends. Before Horrible Bosses, a movie boss guilty of sexual harassment would normally be male — Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl was a rare exception — so Aniston’s Dr. Julia Harris was already a twist on that archetype.
After Horrible Bosses was a massive hit, grossing over $212 million worldwide – surely helped by that on-the-nose title – Aniston would reteam with Sudeikis for We’re the Millers in 2013, and that was also a big enough hit for New Line that it made an even stronger case for Horrible Bosses 2. Aniston’s Julia was the only returning boss to have a major role in Horrible Bosses 2, although Spacey‘s character made a cameo, still imprisoned after the events of the first movie. New bosses arrived in the form of Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine, but the sequel just wasn’t as well-received, either by critics or at the box office, making roughly half the worldwide box office of its predecessor. The team behind the sequel would go on to make bigger hit comedies like the Daddy’s Home movies. Still. Horrible Bosses 2 lost the simplicity of the first movie’s premise, which was almost like a comedy version of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train.
Changes Would Have to Be Made for a Third Horrible Bosses
While Horrible Bosses and its sequel are very funny movies with a concept that millions of hard-working people can relate to, they also could be seen as problematic in this day and age. This is particularly the case with Julia’s treatment of Charlie Day‘s Dale in both movies, as she harasses and blackmails him after drugging him and posing with him in sexual photos that she threatens to show his partner. After the #MeToo movie called out actual sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood, that plot point just doesn’t seem that funny. It’s safe to say that Kevin Spacey won’t be back even for a cameo, which would give Dr. Julia Harris a meatier role that would justify her character’s return. Maybe the real-world #MeToo movement convinces Julia to deal with her problems and go into therapy or counseling.
New Line would be smart to get younger and more modern comedy filmmakers involved in Horrible Bosses 3 as well. A couple of suggestions that could work include Andrew DeYoung, who made the recent A24 hit comedy, Friendship, or a woman director like Emma Seligman (Bottoms). Hiring a woman director would guarantee that Aniston‘s character to have a more-rounded role in the story and not just be a one-note recurring joke. Hopefully, Aniston would also bring her production savvy to the mix, as there have been some great women directors on her Apple TV+ series, The Morning Show, including the legendary Mimi Leder of Pay It Forward and Deep Impact fame.
Much has changed in the world in the 11 years since Horrible Bosses 2, but one thing remains constant: everyone, at least at one point in their lives, has had a horrible boss. Maybe they never felt the need to kill their bosses, but the timing of a third Horrible Bosses movie could still be perfect, especially if it contends with the things that have happened in the decade since that previous sequel. In other words, they would need to consider changes in the real world, so that a proposed threequel would justify reuniting the original comedies’ fantastic cast.
via Collider