How does Hollywood make a sequel? They slap a numeral after the title of a hit film and pray fans flock to see the new installment.
It usually works.
Sequels don’t have to be so mind-numbingly obvious. Or unnecessary.
For every “Caddyshack II” there’s a “Color of Money,” a movie that takes beloved characters and pushes them in fresh directions.
It’s why I’m dying to see “Ferris Bueller 2″ even though it’s wholly unlikely it’ll ever happen.
Why “Ferris?” Because it’s the greatest teen comedy of my formative years, and it’s a natural for a sharp sequel that picks up 20 years where the original left off.
The snarky blog “Stuck in the 80s” reported last year on a “Ferris” sequel script being promoted around Hollywood. It has Ferris becoming a self-help guru who takes another wacky day off along with his pal, Cameron.
Clever idea, but I see it differently. I bet Ferris would have to conform at some point, join the rat race and, gasp, even get a cubicle based job. A great sequel would have him melting down one morning, then punching up his long lost pal Cameron and taking another day off.
Matthew Broderick’s current appearance would only add to the sequel’s impact. He’s slightly heavier now, but his youthful looks still draw us in. Imagine him shaking off two decades of rust and taking Chicago by storm once more.
This time it’s not just a high schooler cutting loose, it’s a middle-aged man trying to regain his sanity – and sense of self.
“Ferris” writer/director John Hughes is MIA in Hollywood. He’s a reclusive figure now, someone who stopped making movies after creating a string of films that all but defined the ’80s (“The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Some Kind of Wonderful.”).
So getting him on board seems all but impossible. So, too, does any realistic chance of a Ferris reunion. Still, it’s fun to kick around, and more enjoyable than watching “Caddyshack II.”
What movie sequels would you like to see?
(Photo: Alan Ruck, Mia Sara and Matthew Broderick strike a pose during the 1986 teen classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll second the FB sequel although I suspect that it, like Indy 4, can only succeed in the imaginations of its fans, because no practical story could match its charm. That stated, the Industry may be fronted by Liberals, but it mostly is Conservative, and the bottom line is the bottom line: sequels nearly are a sure thing, with regard to risk management.
I would thus put forth the Hughes Trinity: FB, 16C, and TBC, with latter offering Hall and Ringwald at a 2-for-1 resurgent career discount. It may necessarily have to skew more bittersweet comic nostalgia than straightforward fantasy hijinks, but each of the three should revisit the main characters – and classic minors, like Watanabe’s Long Duk Dong (hopefully CIO of Google Pacific Rim at this point) – in current time.
Skewing inversely, I would like to see a sequel to Cameron’s Aliens – disregarding as non-canon Fincher’s Alien to the third power and its sequel – with the logical story of the Aliens infesting Earth. In Cameron’s hands, it could the film that Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers failed to be.
And although Mr. and Mrs. Smith probably showed the likely story board, I personally would like to see a Grosse Point Blank II, if only to see Driver actually act again….
~ Dagnabbitt
An “Aliens” sequel, done right, would be a natural, but the beyond awful “Alien vs. Predator” films likely spoiled any attempts at a decent sequel — permanently.
Not to initiate a flame war, but WWTW, Y.I.S.
I counter that 1997’s “Batman and Robin” ‘likely spoiled any attempts at a decent sequel — permanently’, or so was the CW in H’wood for many years, and yet here we are, slightly more than only a decade later, looking at the second successful “Batman” having become the second all-time domestic gross b.o. film with $0.5 trillion. Keep hope alive….
~ Dagnabbitt