Ten Movie Sequels That Could Have Been Made But Weren’t
Sometimes ONE is enough
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As a budding scriptwriter in my early twenties, I tried to make up ideas for movie sequels after watching the original.
It was fun second-guessing what the filmmakers might come up with in a second instalment. Only to see their follow-ups on the screen a few years later, and say, “That was my idea!”
Of course, many movies didn’t need a sequel. They were either too good, or free-standing, to warrant a reprise. Or simply too bad to bother trying. Although that didn’t deter many — think Caddyshack II.
Nevertheless, deep down, despite our cultural leanings that great movies don’t need a sequel, we always hope for one anyway.
Cast Away (2000)
I always wanted to see a sequel to Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis’s classic desert island movie starring Tom Hanks and Wilson the Volleyball.
Maybe years later during retirement, Chuck Noland (Hanks) has a freak yachting accident, and by an incredible stroke of bad luck ends up marooned on the same desert island with an American Football called Travis.
It could be called
Cast Away II: Another 20 Years
I don’t know how they would fill another three hours. But I’m sure they could try. After all, wasn’t there a 2010 horror flick called Rubber about a car tyre that came to life?
I rest my case.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
One thing the movie industry agrees on is that ET didn’t need a sequel — it was that good.
I disagree.
It’s a space film, right? I thought space flicks meant endless follow-ups. Look at Star Trek and Star Wars. How many sequels or prequels are we approaching now? A thousand. A million?
You could have a whole world before and after E.T.
Where did ET come from? What was his life like before he came to Earth? Why did he come to Earth? What happened afterwards? What was his race? What language did they speak? Was it like Klingon?
The scope is vast, and yet all I got as a kid was a selection of naff Panini sticker books. I thought Hollywood could do better.
After all, they did make Rubber…
Groundhog Day (1993)
One of the defining movies of the nineties (if not eternity), Groundhog Day is the ultimate time loop movie that inspired endless copycat versions but never bettered. Except possibly Palm Springs, which was refreshingly good.
So why never a sequel?
Why couldn’t they put Phil Connors at another annual celebration like Independence Day? Dress him up as Thomas Jefferson, and make him wake up on 4 July 1776 over and over again.
But that would be touching on Back to the Future territory. Furthermore, how would they have marketed such a follow-up?
Groundhog Day (Again)
Groundhog Day Revisited
Groundhog Day Revisited (Again)
I could go on…and on.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Growing up, this was one of my favourite movies, so I waited patiently for a sequel. Surely, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off II would soon hit the screen.
But no. All we got that year was Police Academy 4 and Short Circuit. Talk about disappointment.
Although, according to Wikipedia, director John Hughes, did consider a sequel. A few years later when Ferris was at college or in his first job, the same thing would happen to him again.
Maybe he was thinking of calling it: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off AGAIN.
Luckily, Hughes didn’t go ahead with the project. After all, it’s not difficult to take a day off from college or a job, is it?
You just don’t go in!
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
One of my favourite comedies of all time, and like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I was waiting for a sequel. Back in the 1980s, there were sequels to everything. Why not this one?
It would have been a bad thing, I realise that now. As I said at the top of the piece, you don’t want to ruin a good thing.
However, considering John Candy tragically died seven years later, it would have been great to see him and Steve Martin flesh out another caper. Maybe they meet up again in LA and have to get back to Chicago.
I’d have watched it, that’s for sure.
Step Brothers (2008)
Goofball comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C Reilly did so well at the box office that I’m surprised there wasn’t a sequel. It seemed perfect territory for it.
This is one of those films where I struggled to find a sequel, no matter how hard I tried. Where would it go? Step-Children? Step-Sisters? Step-Nieces? Step-Uncles?
The movie is good, just. It’s funny, just. It works because there’s — just — enough material to see it to the end. And even then, at 98 minutes, it drags a bit. A sequel would be painful.
Then again, they did make Highlander 2.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
I’m glad there was never a sequel to Gone With the Wind. If there had been, my gran would have forced me to watch it over and over again, like she did with the original.
Whenever it was on TV, (which in the late 70s and early 80s was every year) my dear gran, who lived with us, would sit me down with a glass of milk in the afternoon and make me watch it. All four hours of it!
Or at least as much as I could stand before I fell asleep — what child watches a four-hour movie! Which is why it was a relief when I found out there was no sequel.
Imagine
Gone With the Wind (Forever)
No thanks!
Apollo 13 (1995)
This would be tricky.
There was plenty of real-life drama to work with in Apollo 13 — it was a gripping story. Unfortunately, the subsequent Apollo 14 mission wasn’t that interesting — it was a complete success.
A sequel would quickly become intensely boring unless the filmmakers made everything up. It’s been known!
“Houston. We have a Goblin…”
Could work?
But the main problem with a sequel is that people might get confused. They might see Apollo 13 and 14 and assume there was a beginning, like Star Wars. Then spend the rest of their lives looking for Apollo I, II, III, IV…
(or Groundhog Day IV: The Revenge of Punxsutawney Phil).
Burn After Reading (2008)
One of my favourite Coen Brothers movies, partly because the big-name actors (George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, Frances McDormand, AK Simmons) go almost unnoticed.
So much so, that by the end of the picture, you ask yourself, was Brad Pitt in that? Was that George Clooney or someone else?
But how would a sequel work out?
Once again, this is one of those movies that I could find no way at all to come up with a suitable plot.
The problem is that everyone is dead. Which means you’d have to hire another batch of out-of-work and/or bored Hollywood A-list actors and call it something like Burn Before Reading.
Is Kevin Spacey available?
Avatar (2009)
No one in their right mind would make a sequel to Avatar.
How could you possibly begin to script a sequel to a movie that didn’t have a beginning, middle or end in the first place? It would be like reverse-engineering Heaven.
BUT of course — incredibly!— James “I once made a great film called Aliens” Cameron did make a sequel. It was called The Way of Water. How it was made, or why, I’ve no idea.
Must have been a miracle.
What’s your favourite movie never made into a sequel?
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No need to write a sequel for this one.
Harry Potter could have used another movie, or two. 10 is a good number.