If you go to the multiplex, it’s not surprising that some sort of sequel to a previous film will be playing. Now, studios consider IP (Intellectual Property) as the big selling point rather than well-crafted storylines or impressive visuals. This alone will pull people into the theater. If the movie happens to have the other two things, then great. This wasn’t always the case.
There was a time when making a sequel was looked at as a hack idea, and most studios passed on the idea. That’s a shame, as there are a lot of great classic movies that deserve a sequel. Even some films that have come out when sequels were popular still missed getting another chance at the big screen. Which movies deserved a sequel?
After Stallone delivered a live-action Judge Dredd film back in the mid-90s, fans of the comics hopped to see a closer adaptation of the violent hero. One that wouldn’t take his helmet off. We finally got one in 2012, and fans greatly enjoyed Karl Urban’s take on the character. Hope for a sequel quickly fell off when the film didn’t earn back its production budget. Despite this, Urban has continued to push for a sequel to the film. Talks have been ongoing about possibly making a sequel series for Netflix or Amazon. With the popularity of Urban’s Amazon series The Boys, this would seem like a no-brainer.
This film showed that the film equation of Arnold Schwarzenegger plus James Cameron creates on-screen gold. A simple computer salesman (who looks like Schwarzenegger, yeah right) is actually a spy. His family has no idea, but when his wife, played by Jamie Lee Curtis finds out, she gets pulled into a world of intrigue and secrets. The film did well at the box office, and audiences enjoyed the fun romp through the world of spies. It seems like getting a sequel together would be easy.
Everyone was interested, but Cameron was working on a little film called Titanic. Once that was over, he was ready to return to the world of True Lies. A script was ordered, and Jeff Eastin was brought on to write it. All the major players liked what had been put together, but the process began to drag on. Once the September 11th attacks happened in 2001, Cameron said he didn’t think he could make the movie. There were a lot of set pieces that involved planes and terrorism, and he felt all that would have to be re-written.
Schwarzenegger then ran for Governor of California in 2003, putting the project on hold. He was still interested in doing the movie once he was out of office, but it never came together. A TV series was created for CBS that was a reboot of the film, but it was canceled after one season.
The quintessential teenager film from the 1980s had viewers deciding if they were an athlete, a princess, a criminal, a basket case, or a brain. By modern standards, the film has a lot of problems, but as a time capsule, it works to show a typical teen comedy/drama from the time period. Five high schoolers get stuck in Saturday detention and discover they may have more in common than they thought.
There were rumblings at one time that a sequel might be in the works. The idea would have seen all the characters reconnect at a high school reunion. Once they started to get to know each other again, they would quickly learn they had become everything they had hated about adults when they were teenagers. It would be hard to capture the lightning in a bottle that the John Hughes films did in the 80s, but it might have been nice to revisit these characters again.
This Halloween anthology was supposed to have a wide theatrical release in 2007 but ended up sitting on the shelf until 2009. It went straight to home video but quickly earned a cult following. Sam is the spirit of Halloween and seems to show up as ghoulish things happen. Five interconnected stories play out as we learn about zombie children, vampires, werewolves, and the importance of giving out candy on Halloween night.
Creator Michael Dougherty has pushed for a sequel to be made as soon as it was released. In 2013, it was officially announced that a sequel was moving forward, but quickly afterward, the management at Legendary Pictures changed. It has been put on hold ever since, but Dougherty says he is still in active development on getting a sequel made. Sam even appeared in new short films on the now-defunct horror channel FearNet, showing him celebrating other holidays.
The good news is, just about everyone involved with this film wants to do a sequel. Why it’s taken this long is anyone’s guess. Emily Blunt has assured everyone it’s not her. A cowardly army officer is put on the front lines of a war with aliens. He kills one of them but is drenched in its blood. Now he keeps jumping back to the exact moment in time any time he dies. He finds someone else who has had the same experience, and together, they try to figure out what is happening and how to win the war.
This movie seems perfect for a follow-up. Even before the film starts, this type of thing has happened before. It’s no stretch to think that it could happen again. Putting our characters in a new situation or location could freshen it up. Emily Blunt has stated there is a script that exists for a sequel. It may just be waiting for everyone’s schedules to line up.
the two finally go toe to toe Everyone’s favorite big-screen maniacs finally faced off in 2003. With a rabid fanbase and a tidy profit from the release, surely a sequel was coming quickly. Unfortunately, this ended up being a one-off. When everyone in Springwood forgets who Freddy Kruger is, he resurrects Jason to begin a killing spree to make everyone think Freddy is back. Jason gets out of hand, and when Freddy is pulled into the real world they finally go toe-to-toe.
I guess it shouldn’t be a big surprise as it took over a decade just to get this film on the big screen. A proposed sequel that would bring Evil Dead‘s Ash into the fold looked like it might happen at one point, but cross-company deals can be hard to hammer out. That went on to become a comic book series, so we at least got to see how the story would have played out. This movie still deserved a sequel.
The most famous day off in cinema could surely use a follow-up. Ferris is one of the most well-known kids in his school. He decides to take a day off from school and goes on an epic adventure with his best friend, Cameron, and his girlfriend, Sloane. Ferris is determined to make his friend Cameron have fun. The school principal is trying to catch Ferris playing hooky but can never catch up to him.
According to Broderick, he and John Hughes discussed what a sequel would look like. They couldn’t find anything that didn’t feel like it was just a copy of the original. After Hughes passed away, there were some ideas of maybe seeing an older Ferris, who was now a high school principal, trying to catch students skipping school, but it never happened. A spin-off film following the valets that take the group’s car for a joy ride in the movie has been discussed but has yet to move forward.
The Goonies end up on a wild adventure that involves bank robbers, pirate ships, and lots of rich stuff. They hope to find the treasure of the pirate One-Eyed Willy. With it, they can stop the town real estate developer from tearing down their homes and keep their friends together. This film was a big hit in cinemas and only seemed to get bigger once it landed on home video.
The idea of a sequel had been thrown around since the early 2000s. Some cast members had been passionate about it happening, while others seemed to think the idea was better left alone. Ideas were about the adult Goonies coming back together to help their kids solve a new dilemma. Richard Donner kept pushing for a sequel to move forward, and Steven Spielberg was open to the idea but said they could never find an idea worthy of the Goonies title. This movie deserved a sequel but does it really need one?
While we got a few Roger Rabbit shorts in front of some Disney properties, we never did get a full-on sequel. The original was set in a film noir-inspired world where toons and humans live together. When Roger is framed for murder, he turns to Eddie Valiant to help find the real killer and clear his name. The film was an instant smash and set the industry on fire with its innovative live-action/animation techniques.
There were talks right away of doing a sequel, but a story couldn’t be settled on. One idea saw a prequel where we would get Roger’s origin as he set out from his midwest home to find his mother in Hollywood. He would meet Jessica and fall in love. While he was drafted into the army to fight during World War II, Jessica would get kidnapped and forced to make Nazi propaganda films. After Spielberg made Schindler’s List, he decided he couldn’t do anything that satirized Nazis and stepped down. Other ideas have popped up now and again of a buddy cop film starring Roger and Mickey Mouse as a loose remake of the film The Stooge.
Bob Hoskins would sign on to do a sequel as late as 2010, but he would sadly pass away before movement on the film could happen. When asked about it, Robert Zemeckis has stated that a script does exist. He doubts it would ever get made as the current corporate structure wouldn’t allow some of the more adult content of the film and wouldn’t allow Jessica Rabbit to be used in just about any form. The time of Roger Rabbit seems to have passed, but he did make a small cameo in the recent Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.
One of the biggest films of all time doesn’t have a sequel. When an alien is left stranded on Earth, he befriends a young boy named Elliot. Together, they learn about each other and work to get the alien back home to his planet. This film was a monster at the box office and had numerous re-releases in theaters. A sequel could have easily cashed in and made the studio a lot of money. Surprisingly, it wasn’t pushed into production right away.
While the film was crushing in theaters, Spielberg did come up with a treatment for a sequel. It was titled E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears. Elliot and the other kids from the first film are kidnapped by evil aliens. They try to communicate with E.T. to get him to help them. Once everything was written out, Spielberg decided against going forward with it. He felt it betrayed the first film and didn’t want to just cash in. However, Universal didn’t feel as adverse when Elliot and E.T. reunited in a Comcast commercial in 2019.
What are some movie sequels you would like to see? Let us know in the comments.