About a year ago I wrote a Geek Spasm about Sequels That Should Happen.
In a fortuitous dual turn of events, sequels to two biggies from that list—Remo Williams and Pacific Rim—have recently been given the green light.
As the inner geek in all of us celebrates, let’s discuss the prospects of these imminent new franchises, check up on the status of other long-gestating sequels, and pontificate on a few new entries to the list of movies that deserve to be continued.
The Destroyer (Remo Williams reboot/sequel)
It’s finally happening: there will indeed be a follow-up to the 1985 cult hit Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (and its subtitle, long a snicker-inducing punchline of ’80s movie hubris, will finally be proven true).
The official announcement that another Remo movie is finally in the works ought to be enough to send any ’80s aficionado into a head spin, but news that the reigns are being handed over to Shane Black—writer of Lethal Weapon and Predator; writer/director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3—is cause for outright unexpurgated nerdgasm.
There are dozens of books in the Destroyer cycle that are ripe for adaptation. It’s not apparent yet if Remo Redux (my title) will be a reboot, a sequel or a prequel, but assuming something as critical as casting is handled with extreme care, the new Remo could emerge as a powerhouse action franchise hero.
Equally nerdgasmic is news that Guillermo del Toro has been given the go-ahead on Pacific Rim 2. Surely the strong international box office of the 2013 original and the success of Gareth Edwards’ surprise 2014 kaiju smash Godzilla played equally into the decision. The 2017 target date of means the sequel won’t be happening as rapidly as die-hard fans want. In the interim, del Toro will direct the long-anticipated psychological thriller Crimson Peak and a new live-action vision of Pinocchio.
By the time P-Rim2 arrives we’ll already have seen a Godzilla sequel, and if there isn’t a fifth Transformers that year I’ll eat my shorts, so let’s hope audience love for Kaiju/Jeager smackdowns hasn’t diminished by then. Nice that del Toro is juggling original material with tent-pole sequels (along with some some gritty television with The Strain), though I confess I’d be first in line to see a third Hellboy flick, and would much prefer that to another Pacific Rim.
Dredd (2012)
UPDATE: A Facebook campaign for a sequel has raised awareness, and turned the Dredd 3D Blu-ray into something of a fan-fueled home video success story, but we’re still no closer to word on whether the studio will take the plunge and make another chapter. And every time I see another “Make Dredd 2” meme, I’m stung anew by the thought of so many other inferior if more lucrative movies since Dredd that are already being developed into continuing sagas.
After Lionsgate banks another billion-plus dollars from their upcoming two-part Hunger Games finale Mockingjay, perhaps then they’ll roll the dice and spend a nice chunk of that pocket change on a Dredd 2. But, beware, fans are hungry only for a like-minded sequel, so note to producers: No watering down the brutality in order to shoehorn the series into a PG-13 rating! (We’re sneering at you, Expendables and Terminator.)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
UPDATE: Director David Fincher is out, thus prospects are very dim for the American adaptations of books two and three of the Millennium Trilogy to ever see the light of day.
The Rocketeer (1991)
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| Take a deep breath, it’s a fan poster. |
UPDATE: In the Better Late Than Never category, director Joe Johnson says he’s game for another flight with the Rocketeer, though recent rumblings at Disney suggest they’re aiming to reboot. The Rocketeer rode the last wave of analog visual effects before CGI became the norm so, sequel or remake, I can’t wait to see what the period production designers can conjure with today’s technology.
That is, assuming the filmmakers stay true to the source material’s historical time frame and don’t try to rejigger the project for a contemporary setting.
Evil Dead 4
Even after the utter suck that was 2013’s rebooted/remade Evil Dead, I think a Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell reunion to continue the exploits of Ash following 1992’s Army of Darkness would be, like, totally groovy.
Austin Powers 4
Mike Myers isn’t getting any younger, and chances for a Wayne’s World 3, a So I Married an Axe Murderer Too or a spin-off of The Love Guru are nil to none. Dusting off the bald wig and the frilly cravat for a fourth fling with the spy who shagged us would seem like a no-brainer.
Plus, it can’t be too hard to top Goldmember…right?
Jack Reacher 2
Rabid fans of the popular book series foamed at the mouth when puny five-foot-nothing Tom Cruise was cast in the role of a mysterious six-foot-four ex-military tough-guy, but Cruise’s confident bravado wins over. He’s totally convincing as a slow-burn badass, and gets to open multiple cans of whoop-ass on myriad thugs.
Cruise is getting a bit long in the tooth to scale the world’s tallest buildings in more Mission: Impossible sequels, but if the remaining Reacher books are adapted with the same entertaining two-fisted flair as the original, this could be an enduring franchise for him.
The Amazing Spider-Man 3
So the second Amazing Spider-Man made only $700 something million worldwide and didn’t quite manage to top the 2012 reboot that preceded it. As if this indicates some sort of catastrophic box office failure, or suggests spandex fatigue among audiences, Sony is hastily switching gears and putting 2016’s planned Amazing Spider-Man 3 on the back burner.
TAS-M3 will now take the 2018 slot of what was previously intended to be the fourth webslinger flick. In the 2016 window, Sony will instead issue a stand-alone Sinister Six movie about the gallery of Spider-Man villains, expanding their cinematic universe in the same fashion Marvel has been doing withThe Avengers, and just like DC has finally begun with last year’sMan of Steel and 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in the ramp-up to their Justice League assembly.
The looming Sinister Six movie, which may or may not even feature Spider-Man, threatens to implode under the excessive weight of so many villains. We saw how well bad-guy overload worked in Batman and Robin (1997) and in Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 (2007), and were reminded of this too often this summer in the otherwise solid TAS-M2. I cannot fathom why Sony would want to double-down on the villainy. The filmmakers have already hinted enough in TAS-M1 and TAS-M2 to provide ample backdrop to the Sinister Six so, if by the time a third Spidey flick arrives these half-dozen cretins cannot be introduced to audiences without a separate stand-alone movie featuring potentially zero good guys, I say scrap the rebooted enterprise altogether and hand the reigns back to Sam Raimi.
Plus, for what it’s worth, new Peter Parker/Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield will be pushing forty by the time his third flick unspools. Isn’t the character fresh out of high school? Time for a reboot of the reboot?
Goonies 2
Because never say die. That’s why.
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