Welcome to Respawning’s Film & TV Club! The purpose of this is to get a bunch of us together every Wednesday and allow us the chance to chat shit about whatever takes our fancy in the world of Films & TV!
With Super Troopers 2 finally releasing, being a sequel to Super Troopers, originally released in 2001, we got thinking… What ARE our thoughts on reviving long-stagnant franchises with sudden sequels..?
Will
Why the hell not?
Look, being negative is easy. But you’ve got to look for the good in everything.
Jumanji is no worse for a Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson-starring sequel. It’s still the same charming Robin Williams flick. But when it comes to other, like Blade Runner, we have a chance to get something truly special.
Many like to grump and moan about cynical Hollywood cash-grabs. I disagree. If you have something to add to old art, there shouldn’t be a time limit on that. Maybe it’s my pretentious ‘Liberation of Art’ ideals coming in again, but I think we should be able to enjoy something for what it is, not groaning because the circumstances around it are easy pickings for being negative.
If you don’t wanna see the movie, don’t see the movie. But don’t rob others of their enjoyment by being so down on everything all the time.
Javier
I’m not sure how I feel about these, reboots I can understand to try and revitalize a long dead franchise (like the Crow) but to me a sequel randomly coming out 10+ years feels like too much of a nostalgia cash in.
There’s also a fine line between reboot and sequel don’t you think, Jumanji was kind of in between and didn’t shame the original (and wasn’t that great overall). To me it’s almost like ‘oh we’ve completely run out of ideas, why not do a sequel to a film that no one cares about any more and make some cash’.
As will has said ultimately it’s your choice but this money could be being spent on more Transformers movies….. NOT!!!
Salman
I don’t really mind it to be honest. I think sometimes series can be taken to brand new heights with a sudden sequel that turns out pretty good. Two of my favorite examples of this have to be Mad Max Fury Road which is easily one of my favorite movies and Blade Runner 2049 which I thought was really goddamn good.
There’s somethings like reboots and remakes I really cannot get behind though. Horror movies have it have it pretty bad with reboot after reboot and they just don’t know how to leave something perfectly fine alone. I think the only one that was okay was the Evil Dead one because SPOILERS if you stick around after the credits you find out that it’s kind of a prequel so that was neat.
Clarice
For me the obvious choice for a franchise that was long dead was The Mummy series – Having both two movie adaptations from the original 1932 movie (I am NOT including the 2017 movie also titled The Mummy as this was nothing to do with the previous films and it was shit), an animated series and even a bloody Wii game! The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire was the third instalment of the “O’Connell magical adventure” that delved into the world of… You guessed it! Mummies and egyptology… Except this film was based in China and focused on our main baddy of the film, Emperor Han, a warlord obsessed with power and ruling over China…
Now when this was first announced way back when in 2008, I was surprised to see such a change in the series… But was even more surprising was to see the actress, Rachel Weisz, who played the main character Evelyn O’Connell switched for someone completely different and even adopt a whole new persona and attitude towards the characters’ love of history and all things spooky. With that in mind what caught me of guard was the fact the Mummy Returns came out in 2001, and a whole 7 years later they release this mess of a film… This final entry into the trilogy was a massive let down for someone who loved this franchise, but one thing’s for certain… It was not as bad as the 2017 release. THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE BRENDAN FRASER ANYWHERE TO BE SEEN. WHY DOES THIS FILM EXIST.
Ben
I think this is an occasion where it’s going to be based on how good the previous film was. For this, I’m going to focus on The Incredibles. A film that was just as good for me as a child as it is to me today, there’s just enough humour for an adult as there is fun for a kid. This film was left in a manner that a sequel had to be coming. A game was made combatting the cliffhanger but was more focused on being a game rather than telling a story. The fact that the sequel is coming makes my inner child very happy and I can’t wait to watch it.
There are other films that were made that shouldn’t have been made, you’ve already read examples from my friends above of films that shouldn’t. My overall thought is that a sequel to an old film is not a bad idea as there are always more stories that can be explored in any universe. The question is “was the film any good?” that gives us the answer to whether we like the idea of it being made in the first place. So keep the films coming and we’ll judge them all like the critics we are.
Josef
Honestly I’m not against the idea of a revival. Times change and so does the technology to create a beautiful movie. However sometimes I feel they fail to hit what made the original so unique and interesting. While everyone has mentioned Jumanji and the Mummy one thing for me I didn’t enjoy was Finding Dory. I absolutely adore Finding Nemo and it is still one of my favourite animated movies I’ve ever seen. However when I went to go see Finding Dory there was no overwhelming emotion for me. It played it far too safe and felt like a run of the mill pixar movie that everyone would forget a year later.
I’m scared for Incredibles 2 as it’s another series I grew up loving to bits. But to give Pixar some credit, Toy Story 3 was fantastic. That was a story that delivered the passage of time with these characters and made a very emotional story. Then outside of Pixar I had a lot of fun with Jumanji. Star Wars is also doing pretty well for itself even if it is just a tad too much going on. Movies like the Mummy shouldn’t even be attempted to revive or remake as nothing will replace Brendan Fraser.
Joe
When it comes to long-dead franchises suddenly getting a sequel film, Disney and Pixar will always be the crown kings of rearing their long-dead franchises for a sudden resurrection conveniently a decade-or-so after the initial audience has forgotten about it… Of course in this instance, I’m talking primarily about Monsters University.
Being a prequel to the mass cult hit that was Monsters Inc, Monsters University introduced a plethora of blander, less enjoyable characters and entirely ditched the grungy modernistic style of the office-centric Monsters Inc, which instead of looking at a subversion of the ‘odd factorymen working an odd job’ trope simply turned itself into a run-of-the-mill Uni story filled with corny jokes, and none of the charm of the original – Callbacks were a given, and the whole thing only existed to cash in on people’s nostalgia – Whilst I shan’t comment on Finding Dory (As I haven’t seen it), I do share Josef’s fears for Incredibles 2, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if we see unwanted follow-ups to other films like Ratatouille or Up in a few years…
In short, unwarranted sequels are almost always nostalgia cash grabs. Especially in the animated movie scene.