Criminal mastermind Debbie Ocean and seven other female thieves try to pull off the heist of the century at New York's star-studded annual Met Gala. Their target? A necklace that's worth more than $150 million.
Based on the original 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean’s 11 the more recent Ocean’s film of the same name as we know it (Ocean’s Eleven) was still released 17 years ago – just let that sink in – and whilst the two sequels (2004 & 2007) that followed didn’t take as much money at the box office than the previous one the trilogy has still taken in excess of $1.1 billion.
That said, in more recent time people did wonder what would become of the franchise, especially with director Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney uninterested in making another sequel – in no small part due to the death of original cast member Bernie Mac – it looked like ‘Ocean’s’ was over, however producer Jerry Weintraub then conceived the idea of using an all-female cast.
And whereas the original cast used household names such as George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, Scott Caan, and Elliott Gould Ocean’s Eight has pulled no punches with its’ cast consisting of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blachett, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, and Awkwafina, as well as Anne Hathaway as a celebrity, and target of the heist.
And in keeping in touch with the original trilogy Bullock takes the role of Debbie Ocean – Danny’s estranged sister. Also keep your eyes open for cameo roles from Damon and Reiner who will both be reprising their original characters.
The all-female lead cast isn’t anything new, with Ghostbusters being remade in 2016. It ended up creating more questions than it answered as it was regarded as a critical hit, albeit a commercial flop, and with strong rumours of the classic Lord of the Flies being remade with an all-female cast there will no doubt be a lot of interested eyes on how well Ocean’s Eight is received and more importantly performs.
Check out the latest trailer below, which is due to be released via Warner Bros on June 22nd.