UPDATE: There is hope! The Film Stage is reporting that Paramount will block the sequel to IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The producers aiming to make the film have not licensed it from the studio who has no intention of granting one to them. Here’s hoping that the prospect of money will not change their minds.
In your daily dose of bad ideas comes the news that a sequel to the Christmas classic IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is currently in development. The Frank Capra original has become an annual staple for families around the world with it’s uplifting tale of attempted suicide and redemption. Starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, the film was nominated for Best Picture and has become a part of cinema history. So, why not make a sequel almost 70 years after the first movie?
Variety reports that the new film will be titled IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE REST OF THE STORY. An inspired title if I have ever heard one. The film currently has no major producers on board and could very easily go the route of other sequels to film classics like RAGING BULL II. But, the IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE sequel will have one returning cast member that appeared in the original film.
Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s daughter “Zuzu” in the original, will return for the “Wonderful Life” sequel as an angel who shows Bailey’s unlikeable grandson (also named George Bailey) how much better off the world would have been had he never been born.
Much like the awful A CHRISTMAS STORY 2 that littered Target and Wal-Marts last year, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE 2 is a shitty idea. Why ruin a classic like this? This reeks of money-grubbing or cheap Christmas cash grab. In either case, unless the film gets a reputable cast and director, it will probably end up ignored until it shows up on the Hallmark Channel at 3am the day after Thanksgiving.