Earlier this week we reported on the upcoming sequel to Magic Mike, Magic Mike XXL, and we’re kind of embarrassed to admit that we’re really excited for that film.
The first Magic Mike had a lot of us embarrassed to go to the theater to see it only to find it was a pretty good movie with good characters and that distinct Steven Soderbergh style.
We’re living in a day and age when basically any movie with any amount of fans or success can get a sequel. I mean we’re getting a sequel to Joe Dirt, and did absolutely anyone ask for that? Obviously it’s way easier and safer for a studio to invest in a movie that they already know will do well and which already has a fan base. It’s riskier to take a chance on a film that’s completely original and not based on any per-existing property.
So it’s easy to become pretty cynical about the whole sequel making process, chalking it up to a symptom of greedy Hollywood which ruins classic films by milking them for all they're worth. But sequels aren’t all bad, and sometimes a sequel can be just as good as the original. Just this year, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 22 Jump Street were excellent films and if they didn’t match the quality of the original, they at least weren’t far below them.
In an age of completely pointless, unnecessary sequels, there are still these ten films on the horizon that have a lot of potential and that we’re really excited to see.
Note: Just because they are such huge franchises that could take up the entire list, the upcoming Marvel, DC and Star Wars movies will not be included here. But of course, we're super excited for those movies too.
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10. Clerks 3
It’s going to be really interesting to see Kevin Smith return to Clerks. The director launched his career with the hit indie movie back in 1994, filming it for $27,000 at the actual convenience store where he worked. The director went on to make hit films such as Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma, but he revisited where it all begin in 2006 with Clerks 2.
The sequel was pretty hilarious and absurd, but it was interesting to see Smith returning to his roots and to check in to see what these characters are up to. The movies deal with the conflict of being forced to grow up while desperately avoiding that, and so it was great to see that explored on screen over a decade after the original movie.
Now Kevin Smith is making Clerks 3, as we previously reported, and it's set to shoot this summer. In addition to the comedic potential and seeing Kevin Smith return to his hit comedy after a few more serious films like Red State and Tusk, checking in on what these characters are up to 20 years after the original film is going to be really interesting.
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9. Finding Dory
It’s kind of weird seeing Pixar at work on so many sequels when the studio used to pride themselves on originality and not turning their movies into franchises like Dreamworks does. But Finding Nemo is easily one of their best films and one of the best animated films of all time, so Finding Dory is definitely one to keep an eye out for.
While normally a sequel to such a great film would be worrisome, especially since the original doesn’t really leave that many plot points open to make it seem worthy of a followup, Pixar has made some pretty great sequels in the past. Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 are arguably way better than the original, and while Monsters University maybe didn’t live up to the original, it was still a pretty fun movie and definitely worth making. If Pixar can make a movie even half as good as the original Finding Nemo here, it’s definitely something to get excited about.
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8. The Incredibles 2
Even more exciting than Finding Dory is Pixar’s upcoming sequel to The Incredibles. While Finding Nemo isn’t really a movie that seems like it has a lot of sequel potential, The Incredibles always seemed like it could launch a franchise, and the fact that it took this long just goes to show Pixar’s incredible restraint. But an Incredibles sequel has so much potential from a character standpoint to see what these characters are up to over 10 years later.
The sequel also has so much opportunity to explore some new superheroes and supervillains and just have fun with this world that feels open and could go a number of ways. It’s hard to imagine where to go with Finding Nemo in terms of a sequel, but seeing the Incredibles go on another mission and fight some more bad guys has real potential to be a lot of fun.
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7. Pacific Rim 2
Pacific Rim is one of those movies that has immediate sequel potential. It sets up this interesting world of monsters and giant robots, and while the first movie is pretty fun and complete, there is so much more that can be done in this universe. I can imagine it being a throwback to classic monster movie franchises, and as long as every movie throws in some more monsters and has the main characters fighting them, what more could we ask for?
Pre-production on Pacific Rim 2 is set to begin this summer with the movie expected to hit theaters in 2017, as we previously reported. Not only that, but it will lead directly into a third film. The original film wasn’t exactly a smash hit in the U.S., making about $100 million on a $190 million budget, so the fact that we’re getting to see more of this franchise is incredibly satisfying and exciting.
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6. Prometheus 2
Prometheus was a movie that served both as a prequel to Alien and as its own sci-fi movie that stood well by itself. It paid tribute to the classic film with some Xenomorph imagery, but it also introduced an entirely new alien species: the Engineers. What could have been a simple, boring prequel to Alien ended up being a pretty great standalone film about humanity’s search for the origins of life.
The movie was pretty open-ended, and Prometheus 2 is on the way from Ridley Scott, as we previously reported. Noomi Rapace is set to return alongside Michael Fassbender, both of whom were great in the original movie. Of course, Ridley Scott has such a crazily busy schedule coming up and it’s not clear where Prometheus 2 will fit into that, but I’d definitely rather see a prequel to an interesting, fresh sci-fi movie like Prometheus than Ridley Scott’s other upcoming sequel, Blade Runner 2. We don’t need that, Ridley.
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5. Wreck-it Ralph 2
The original Wreck-it Ralph was a pretty great animated film which explored the video game world the same way a movie like Toy Story explored the world of toys. But while the movie sets up this gigantic world for us, suggesting that all these different video games are connected and that characters can hop between games, the film itself felt rather small, mostly taking place all in this one video game: Sugar Rush.
That made sense, because the movie was really telling the story of Ralph’s relationship with Vanellope. But it also means that there is so much potential with a sequel, which could send Ralph to an unlimited number of different video game worlds. In addition, the original movie was able to actually license real video game characters, and so the sequel has plenty of room to bring some more of these real characters in, and the director says that Mario may appear in the sequel, according to CinemaBlend.
Because the movie sets up such a rich universe with so many possibilities, the sequel has a solid chance of being on par with the original and maybe even topping it.
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4. Avatar 2
While not everyone is a huge fan of Avatar in terms of its story, it’s hard to deny that it was a pretty epic theatrical experience, with some of the best 3D ever and absolutely awe-inspiring visuals. It’s been five years since the original film was released, and it’s kind of hard to believe it took this long, but James Cameron is currently working on a sequel. Not just one sequel, though. Cameron actually has an entire trilogy of Avatar sequels in the works, as we previously reported.
While we maybe don’t need this many Avatar movies so quickly, even just from a technological standpoint to see Cameron continue to push the limits of visual storytelling, Avatar 2 is definitely going to be one to look forward to.
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3. Terminator Genisys
The Terminator franchise has been basically dead for a while now. Terminator 2 was one of the greatest action films of all time, and it tied up the series in a definitive fashion with really no need for another installment. But then we got Terminator 3, a moderately entertaining action movie but undoubtedly the weakest one yet. Then we had Terminator Salvation in 2009 which wasn’t terrible, but it just felt lifeless and unnecessary, like another generic Transformers style action thriller with not much memorable to it.
But Terminator Genisys seems to have the most potential of any of these movies since Terminator 2. For one we have the involvement of some great actors including Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, and Matt Smith. The movie is also a reboot of the franchise, seemingly ignoring the previous continuity. While this is normally frustrating, the Terminator franchise has gotten into such a rut in terms of its canon that it’s going to be almost refreshing to see the movie start with a clean slate. And of course Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to the Terminator role after 11 years.
Terminator Genisys seems like it is just as likely to be terrible as it is to be great, but either way it’s going to be a movie to keep an eye on.
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2. Bourne 5
The Bourne series was pretty completely wrapped up by the end of The Bourne Ultimatum. That movie was clearly intended as the last installment, and while the end was technically a bit open ended, it felt like the proper finale to the trilogy that should be left alone.
But then we got The Bourne Legacy, a movie which did not feature Jason Bourne and was a pretty colossal disappointment. Now it feels like there needs to be another Bourne movie just so that Legacy isn’t forever the sour end to the franchise.
As we previously reported, Matt Damon will be returning for Bourne 5 as is director Paul Greengrass, who directed both The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Really, it probably would have been better to just leave the series alone with The Bourne Ultimatium, but a potential return to form after the disappointment of Legacy is more than welcome.
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1. Jurassic World
Jurassic Park is one of the absolute greatest action movies of all time, but both of the sequels were kind of disappointing. They’re fun in a cheesy sort of way, but those movies essentially took what was an incredibly well written, well paced action film with great characters and plot and turned it into a B-movie where dumb characters get eaten by dinosaurs.
It’s going to be basically impossible to top the original film, but everything we’re hearing about Jurassic World makes it sound like it has some serious potential. The premise alone is pretty brilliant, taking place 22 years after the original movie. In Jurassic World, John Hammond’s dream has become a reality, and Jurassic Park is a real, functioning park that you can go to. But people start getting bored with the park, and so the staff introduces a new attraction which goes horribly wrong.
Just the idea of being able to see what Jurassic Park would look as a real functioning park sounds incredible, and I’m so excited just to see the world building sections of the movie which show off how this park operates. It’s like the movie is finally letting us go to an actual Jurassic Park, and that is so incredibly exciting.
Aside from that, I love the idea that while seeing real living, breathing dinosaurs is an incredible scientific accomplishment, we’re all so cynical about everything that after the park was around for a while, we’d just take it for granted and treat it like it’s a Six Flags or something.
The movie will be directed by Colin Trevorrow and star Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. It has so much potential and really, as long as it’s better than The Lost World and JP3, it probably won’t disappoint.