Heat 2 is reportedly getting too expensive for Warner Bros. to handle on their own – but Leonardo DiCaprio may be joining the prequel's cast.
According to Puck's What I'm Hearing newsletter, the movie's initial budget came in at over $200 million. Mann has since brought it down to about $170 million, but that's still too steep for Warner Bros. The studio is reportedly open to partnering with a streamer or another studio, so the script has been passed on to Apple for their consideration.
What's more, DiCaprio is reportedly in talks to star in the movie, and Puck thinks his involvement would guarantee the movie's future. It's unclear who he would play if his casting is made official.
There's been talk of the prequel for a couple of years, but Mann revealed he'd completed the first draft of the script in March 2025. No formal casting announcements have been made yet but the rumor mill has been in overdrive, with Adam Driver and Austin Butler's names being thrown into the mix to play younger versions of Neil McCauley and Chris Shiherlis, the roles played by Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer in the original 1995 movie.
The new movie is based on Mann's 2022 novel, which he co-wrote with Meg Gardiner, which alternates between two timelines to act as both a prequel and a sequel to the cat-and-mouse chase between McCauley and Al Pacino's LAPD detective Vincent Hanna.
Heat 2 doesn't have a release date yet. While we wait for more updates, get up to speed with the rest of this year's best upcoming movies with our guide to 2025's biggest movie release dates.
