Having grappled long and hard over budget on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , it's understood that Sony are tightening the pursestrings over David Fincher's proposed sequel, which may move forward without Daniel Craig, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter .
The first film cost a hefty $90m to make, and despite taking $233m worldwide, Sony are keen to restrict the budget second time out.
Blomkvist plays a pared-back role in the second story, which focuses largely on Rooney Mara's character, Lisbeth Salander. But it's hard to imagine Blomkvist being cut from Steve Zaillian's script without the need for major rewrites.
Blomkvist and Salander's separate plot threads converge over the course of the next two stories ( The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest ), and much of the dramatic meat comes from the odd-couple pairing.
However, whether Fincher would want to remain on the project would be up for debate. Craig was his choice first time out, and with Sony looking to cut costs at every turn, it may represent a proposition that's more trouble than it's worth...
