Sequels are a staple of the Hollywood machine. If a movie is successful and rakes in a pile of money, why wouldnt another? Dupilcating success is always the intention but rarely the case.
We have often talked about the failure rate of sequels, but one of the other effects that is less talked about is killing a franchise. I am not talking about disappearing forever, but sometimes there is a big gap between movies that are effected by sequels so dramatically that they wont even consider making another one until some time has passed and people are ready to forgive.
Lets take a look at some:
Superman Returns It was 19 years before a sequel to this fart at the end of the superman run of films. Even the slapstick third chapter with Richard Pryor was considered a success, but no one was ready to forgive them for Quest for Peace. Of course after the lapse there was a fair amount of fighting over who had the rights to make the film and what story to go with.
Batman Begins It was 8 years before we had the chance to forgive them for Batman and Robin. Even Clooney tries not to admit he was in it. But thankfully we were given a new gritty real take on Batman and got rid of Joel Schumacher’s obsession with nipples and neon.
Highlander This one is on my list because of one reason. There can only be one. All of the sequels were horrible, and although mildly amused by the half decent TV series, every chapter got worse and worse. The sequels were so bad that even THEY were ignoring part 2. And don’t get me started on the remake. We are not ready to forgive this series yet.
Rocky It took 16 years for them to return to the Rocky franchise. Mostly because you couldn’t do Rocky without Stallone, and the fifth movie proved it. The movie wasn’t about Rocky it was about the young upstart that Rocky has to slap around at the end. Such a bad movie. Fortunately Rocky returned with a big show, and we were ready for it.
The Next Karate Kid Rumour has it that we are expecting a remake of Karate Kid by sometime next year, but things went quiet after it was discussed late last year. So it might not happen. Might be a good thing. Its been 13 years since the last chapter that even Ralph Macchio wouldnt be in.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes Mark Wahlberg can usually be counted on to bring us a hit, but with the remake of Planet of the Apes, he just confirmed that the series should have been left alone back in 73 with the weakest of the missing links – Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
Usually the best way to deal with series that has outlived its welcome is to remake it. But even sometimes you have to wait before a remake is considered ok. The only movie that I have seen overlook that acceptable mercy of time has been the Hulk. The original (which I kind of liked) is fast being replaced by this new version coming out this summer. If the tend in those type of films have been taking is any indication, we can have hope.
Perhaps if the Hulk is a Success this will set the pace for remakes altogether. Don’t remake unless you can do it right. Of course anyone who remakes a movie is thinking they are doing it right.
Perhaps, but it seems to me that if not for the success of the Star Wars prequels, maybe this project would not have been so well received by studios.
Or, in a different context, maybe the moderate success of Rocky Balboa helped push the new Rambo movie in.
That is a huge assumption MrDeath.
The two have nothing to do with each other. Star Wars was still hugely popular and was being introduced to a new generation. The prequels were made for the new generation.
Rocky Balboa was simply the pet project of Sylvester Stallone. He put a nice final chapter on a series that went out on a down note. This sequel was made for the old generation.
Think about it. An old popular franchise from the 70s/80s becomes a huge success. This opens the doors for new possible sequels that could be potential money-makers.
Mr Death, Im tryin really hard here, but I just dont see the connection between Rocky Balboa being made and Star Wars prequels.
Nothing.
Honestly, it depends on the movie’s track record. Take Batman for instance. The series had already began to go downhill even before the god awful Batman and Robin. If all 3 Batman movies before it had been prestine, then this one had come out, they probably would have pumped out one more sequel before ending the whole thing. It seems that after 2 bad movies, the series must end.
Also, the reboot must be in demand. Would the new Batman have been greenlighted if not for the success of the Spiderman movies? Would Rocky Balboa have been made if the Star Wars prequals hadn’t made buckets of money beforehand? Probably not. It all depends on circumstance.
Spiderman should be left well enough alone after the mess that was Spiderman 3.
I still remember leaving the theater and being the only one in my group that hated it. Now, most my friends will agree that it was pretty bad.
If there is another Fantastic Four film, it should be without the dead weight (re:Jessica Alba) and sadly, if Chris Evans doesn’t want to come back as Torch, so be it.
What gets me is that the previous film was better than the first film, and I liked the second film better than most (aside from Alba, there was nothing really wrong with it) but my main problem was that if they were to hype The Surfer, he should be in the film for more than the time given. There *should* have been a Galactus. I understand the idea that they want to ‘hold off’ on the look because of a spinoff of Surfer, but the errors committed in that are two fold. There is no guarantee that there WILL be a Silver Surfer movie anytime soon and if the SS film is ‘a prequel’ then Galactus will eventually become a storm cloud. The idea of Doom having the power cosmic was a great idea that played well (does Galactus need Radd if Doom can now do the same thing?) and they put on kid gloves and had that nifty idea come and go.
Maybe the true spinoff should be Doctor Doom.
If there is another FF film, I would like to see Mole Man or The Skrulls. Better yet, Doctor Doom- on Latervia, with Doctor Doom BE Doctor Doom and why he’s a bad ass. Why he should be feared and why we should care.
It doesn’t need a restart, but it does need fresh blood.
I wonder what will happen with the next FANTASTIC FOUR.
Will there be another sequel ( which would be awful) or will they let it rest for a few years and then start fresh with a new cast and crew?
Both god awful films made money, but somehow I doubt we will going to see another one of those. So far no concrete plans have emerged yet, which is strange, because SILVER SURFER was over a year ago.
Also, BATMAN BEGINS is not really a sequel. It is a restart of the franchise much like CASINO ROYALE. So technically it’s not a sequel as it doesn’t refer to the previous films in any way. Unlike SUPERMAN RETURNS, which should have been a restart as well, but had some (very flawed) continuity left from the previous installments.
Hulk is an exception though. They needed to align him to the Avengers movie.
No, Hectic… I wish I was. There is talks of Highlander getting a modern remake.
for the highlander remake are you referring to the recent highlander anime?
Certainly a wide span, but the article is not about just how long its been, but how long before they dared with another sequel after a previous sequel left people with a bad taste in their mouth.
What about The Wizard of Oz – originial was 1938, sequel (Return to Oz) was 1985 – total of 47 years!