Justin Cook was able to speak with Mortal Engines director Christian Rivers at New York Comic Con. Below is an excerpt from their conversation…

While speaking to Flickering Myth at New York Comic Con, after showing off the first 25 minutes of Universal’s Mortal Engines to the fans packed into The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, director Christian Rivers (protégé of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson) was asked about his desired involvement in the potential future of the film’s universe. See his response below…

Flickering Myth: If there were to be a sequel, would you want to return to the director’s chair? Where would you see yourself in the future of this universe?

Rivers: [Chuckles] Yeah, I’d love to. I’ve fallen in love with this world, I’ve fallen in love with these characters. I love working with the cast, they’re all an amazing bunch of people and most of them come back. But that’d be a discussion to have with Pete [Jackson], (jokingly) he might secretly want to direct the next one.

Peter Jackson trusted Rivers, a longtime VFX and storyboard artist on Dead Alive, King Kong and nearly every other Jackson-directed production, with directing duties on this release.

It’s no secret that if Universal’s Mortal Engines is successful, audiences can expect to see sequels in the years to come; after all, the author of the book, Philip Reeve, did write a quartet of novels in the Mortal Engines universe.

SEE ALSO: Mortal Engines gets a new trailer and character posters

Mortal Engines is an interesting case, as it is probably the most high-profile, big-budget intellectual property hitting theaters this last quarter of 2018 that most mainstream audiences aren’t very familiar with. The Mortal Engines books are well-liked, but the last installment in the series was published over a decade ago, so by most accounts, it’s a gamble.

However, if the film does, in fact, find and connect with audiences, all bets are off on how far this franchise can go. In a winter box office season, surrounded by Marvel, DC and Transformers movies, Mortal Engines does stand out as the new, original movie, not being a reboot/sequel or based on a hugely popular comic book character. Clearly, films like this one are in dire supply these days.

If audiences do turn out in big numbers, Rivers sounds more than ready to jump back into the universe to direct the next installment, perhaps making this franchise his Lord of the Rings. Additionally, although he mentioned Jackson “secretly [wanting] to direct the next one” rather jokingly, it’s worth noting that it wouldn’t be the first franchise that Jackson produced the first installment of only to come on-board as director for the sequel; he is still attached to helm The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun, the sequel to Steven Spielberg’s Secret of the Unicorn.

SEE ALSO: Mortal Engines New York Comic Con first 25 minutes description and review

Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.

Mortal Engines is set to hit cinemas in the UK on December 8th and in the US on December 14th. Rivers directs a cast that includes Hera Hilmar (Da Vinci’s Demons), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings), Robbie Sheehan (Fortitude), Ronan Raftery (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Leila George (Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?), Jihae (Mars), Colin Salmon (Limitless), Patrick Malahide (Game of Thrones) and Rege-Jean Page (Roots).