A quick glance at the blockbuster movies that have opened recently and are coming soon reveals that, more than ever, studios are sticking tried and tested formulas. The schedules are crowded with sequels, prequels and reboots - the three biggest hits of the year so far have all been sequels:
Furious 7
,
Avengers: Age of Ultron
and
Jurassic World
- while in the next few months we can look forward to
Terminator Genisys
,
Ted 2
,
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
and, of course,
Star Wars Episode VII
. It might seems there are no good movies left that haven't already had the sequel treatment. Far from it - there are plenty of classics, some of which were box-office smashes, some cult favourites, that are crying out for a sequel. Here are 12 we would love to see.
Dredd (2012)
This dystopian adaptation of
Judge Dredd
, the classic anti-hero from the long-running British weekly comic book
2000AD
, was widely regarded as a box-office flop (perhaps in part due to the decision to only give it a 3-D release in the key UK market), but was highly praised by critics and fans and went on to be a huge hit on DVD, Blu-ray and streaming. From a fan's perspective, it remained as true as realistically possible to the comic-book original - and managed to erase the painful memory of the cringeworthy, totally unrelated, 1995 Sylvester Stallone adaptation. The Make a Dredd Sequel Facebook group has 100,000 members, star Karl Urban has repeatedly expressed his desire to reprise the role and screenwriter Alex Garland has already written a script, featuring the Dark Judges, Dredd's greatest foes, who come from a dimension where life is a crime. But alas, so far there is no sign of a big-screen return for "ol' stoneyface".
Mystery Men (1999)
I may be out on my own here, as this one bombed at the box office, making less than half of its US$68 million (Dh249m) budget. However, with an able cast that included Ben Stiller, William H Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard and Tom Waits, a script that delivered laughs aplenty and a soundtrack featuring the likes of Dub Pistols and Violent Femmes, this is, for me, one of the best comic-book spoof movies out there. The potential for sequels is enormous. What did the new heroes in town get up to after defeating Casanova Frankenstein? What even sillier supervillains could be created to replace Frankenstein and Tony P and The Disco Boys? The potential for a The Waffler origin story, meanwhile, is surely immense, but looks extremely unlikely.
ET (1982)
It may be an obvious one, but it really is a mystery how a movie this popular, not to mention lucrative, has never spawned a sequel. It has earned almost US$800 million at the global box office on a tiny $10m budget, and spent 11 years as the world's highest-grossing movie, surpassing
Star Wars
on release, and only supplanted by
Jurassic Park
in 1993. Spielberg did turn in a treatment for a sequel shortly after the film's success, but it's understandable that it never got made. Perhaps trying to shake off the wholesome, cute image of the first movie, the follow-up,
ET: Nocturnal Fears
, apparently would have featured an evil, carnivorous, albino faction of ET's alien race with an eerie hypnotic hum that paralyses Earth creatures. They come to Earth hell bent on destroying civilisation. Elliott, ET's human friend, whose parents have divorced, and his friends are taken prisoner and brutally tortured for good measure. Yeah, maybe stick with the original Steve?
Elf (2003)
Yes, it was candy-floss, seasonal fluff. But it was very profitable seasonal fluff, having earned $220 million at the global box office. It regularly rates in the top three in polls of the best festive films - and I have friends, who I consider to be otherwise sane human beings, that insist on watching Will Ferrell in tights tracking down his long-lost human father every December. The film was critically acclaimed too - quite an achievement for feel-good, festive fare - with even the notoriously grouchy Roger Ebert giving it three out of four stars. Ferrell has repeatedly rejected offers to reprise the role, fearing that the movie would be a disappointment and, more recently, stating he didn't want to be "Buddy the middle-aged elf."
The Breakfast Club (1985)
John Hughes's 1985 coming-of-age comedy/drama is often referred to as one of the greatest high-school movies of all time and helped launch the career of Brat Pack members Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson - and gave Scottish band Simple Minds their biggest hit,
Don't You (Forget About Me)
, which featured on the soundtrack. It tells the story of five members of different high school cliques (jock, princess, geek, rebel and basket case) who are thrown together in a Saturday detention session. During the course of their punishment, they learn that they have more in common than they realised and are defined by more than just their clique stereotypes, as they unite in a common cause, albeit temporarily. The low-budget, single-location movie, which also stars Anthony Michael Hall, was a box-office smash and set the template for the next decade of high-school genre movies. Surely a follow-up 30 years later to see how the fledgling relationships developed after the end of detention, and high school, isn't too much to ask?
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
In the era before computer-animation, this live-action/animation hybrid - directed by
Back to the Future
's Robert Zemeckis - was truly groundbreaking and set a new bar for animated movies. In a world where humans and "toons" live side by side, the slapstick tale tells the story of private detective, Eddie Valiant (the late Bob Hoskins), who is trying to prove the innocence of his animated pal Roger, who has been framed for murder. It was the first animated movie since 1964's
Mary Poppins
to win multiple Oscars and the first live/animation hybrid to win four. It was based on a novel,
Who Censored Roger Rabbit
, by Gary K Wolf, who has since written a couple of follow-ups but, although movie sequels have occasionally been rumoured, they have never materialised. Hopes were raised in 2013 when a prequel buddy movie, featuring Roger and Mickey Mouse, was said to be in development - but all has gone quiet since then. One good thing to note is that if a sequel ever does go into production, almost 30 years later, Jessica Rabbit won't have aged a bit.
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Bryan Singer's noir thriller is notable for many reasons but two in particular: Kevin Spacey's standout, Oscar-winning performance as small-time con man (or at least, so we're led to believe) Verbal Kint, and Christopher McQuarrie's dense, twist-ridden, complex screenplay, which also won an Oscar. The film, which also stars Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Stephen Baldwin and Kevin Pollak, was not a box-office smash, probably in part due to its distributors considering it somewhat art house and giving it only a limited initial release, but it went on to make $23 million in North America alone, easily covering its $6m budget. The movie's ending raises as many questions as it gives answers, not the least of which is who is really Keyser Söze? There are a host of fan theories, the most intriguing of which is that the David Fincher movie
Se7en
, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, is in fact a sequel and Spacey is playing the same character in both. It's a fun theory but is almost certainly nothing more than that. So a
Usual Suspects
sequel to find out the real answers would surely be welcomed by fans.
Ronin (1998)
This action thriller seemed to have it all. A talented cast headed by Robert de Niro and
L
é
on'
s Jean Reno; expertly crafted action sequences from director John Frankenheimer, a genre master; epic car chases, some using as many as 300 stunt drivers, which set a new standard, the likes of which hadn't been seen since 1968's
Bullit
defined the concept; a script from multi-award-winning writer David Mamet; widespread critical acclaim on release - it seemed to have it all. Yet somehow the film failed to capture audiences' imaginations and bombed at the box office. Sadly, with a $55 million budget squandered, in the studio's eyes, that means we're unlikely to ever revisit
Ronin
's intriguing world.
Unbreakable (2000)
One of those few, precious films from M Night Shyamalan back in the days when he could actually still turn in a decent script (
The Last Airbender
, anyone?),
Unbreakable
is no
Sixth Sense
- and the traditional Shyamalan twist is brightly signposted in neon from the moment we meet Samuel L Jackson's Elijah Price - but the film still represents a decent "real-world" take on the comic-book yarn. The scope to follow further adventures of Bruce Willis's hero David Dunn is plentiful. A sequel seemed unlikely for many years as the seemingly untouchable Shyamalan was given ever-increasing pots of money to work on new projects - but they have become increasingly unsuccessful. With his star decidedly in the descendant, perhaps Shyamalan might now consider returning to a previous successful property, so perhaps this is one we might see in future.
Red Dawn (1984)
John Milius's classic Cold War paranoia movie about a Soviet invasion of the United States and a team of brave teenagers' attempts to liberate their homeland from the Red Menace is surely worthy of a second visit, not least to erase the memory of 2012's dreadful reboot which, somewhat improbably, replaced the Soviet/Cuban/Nicaraguan axis of the original with, err, North Korea (the invader was originally intended to be China, but the flags and symbols were changed in post-production when the studio realised the possible box-office effect of alienating the massive Chinese market). The narration at the end of the 1984 film tells us that after the not inconsequential matter of World War Three, the Soviet invasion was eventually repelled some years later. If that doesn't give scope for a sequel, I'm not sure what does.
12 Monkeys (1995)
A second entry on the list for Bruce Willis, this time in Terry Gilliam's stunning sci-fi, time-travel tale
12 Monkeys
(he could have had three entries, but it's hard to see where a
Sixth Sense
follow-up could go). Willis's Cole is sent back in time to find the mysterious Army of the 12 Monkeys, who are believed to have released a deadly virus that kills much of the human race and forces the survivors to live underground. Now, given the ending of the film (which we won't spoil if you still haven't seen it 20 years after release), it could be argued there's little scope for a sequel. This is a time-travel movie, however. Look no further than the
Terminator
franchise for evidence that this is one dead horse that can be flogged over and over by a simple change to the timeline. That said, a TV adaptation did premiere this year and was met with generally favourable reviews and decent ratings that have earned it a second season. However, although it takes the basic plot of the movie - flawed hero from the future sent back in time to prevent the release of a virus that will wipe out humanity - it soon goes off in its own direction to weave a surprisingly clever and complex ongoing narrative. Maybe once it completes its run, Gillian can return to the movie version, one of his best films, and continue that version of the story, too.
Léon (1994)
Luc Besson's 1994 hitman thriller, also known as
The Professional
, is a firm favourite among cinephiles. It introduced a young Natalie Portman to audiences, with her powerful portrayal of wise-beyond-her-years orphan Mathilda, who becomes the emotional counter to Jean Reno's socially dysfunctional assassin, Léon. Besson did apparently have a sequel planned, featuring a grown-up Mathilda seeking revenge for the death of her mentor/surrogate father, but Portman's rapid ascent to the Hollywood A-list, combined with unspecified legal issues, have blocked development.
