If you had any doubt that Hollywood was reliant on big movie franchises, let them be eradicated right about now...
As has long been the case, sequels are a reliable way of making plenty of cash from recognisable names. They've been a part of the Hollywood filmmaking process for decades, and as this list of 95 sequels currently in the works proves, will continue to be so for as long as we stump up the cash to go and see them.
We've been doing this list annually for a couple of years now, and this year's collection is, perhaps unsurprising, the longest round-up of upcoming sequels that we've done. Still, given that there are nearly a hundred sequels listed below, we're a little sad to see that Hollywood's people in suits couldn't find room for a belated return to Mac And Me...
Here's what you've got to look forward to...
The sequel to 300 has been in gestation for some time, and for a while it was set to go by the name of Xerxes, with Guy Ritchie a possibility to direct.
Now? It’s not called Xerxes at all, and due to scheduling demands, Zack Snyder is not in the running to direct the film. The plan, we understand, is to have the movie in cinemas in 2013, but that seems to be as far as the production has got.
The third Alvin And The Chipmunks movie isn’t a particularly joyful thought. This time, Tim Hill passed on the chance to direct, heading off to make Hop instead.
Shrek Forever After ’s Mike Mitchell stepped into his shoes (and Mitchell earns bonus points off us for the excellent combination of Greg The Bunny and Sky High) , and the film is in post-production now for a December release. It’s in 3D, too. Perfect.
Sony has high hopes for its reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. And with the first film in the new line of webslinger movies, The Amazing Spider-Man, still a year away, it’s already got the wheels in motion on a sequel. James Vanderbilt, who wrote the draft on which The Amazing Spider-Man was based, is having a first bash at the screenplay for the second film. That hints that Sony is looking to keep the gap between the movies to a minimum.
Chances are, then, that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 might be with us as early as 2014.
Granted, there have technically been seven American Pie movies to date, if you include the four risible straight-to-DVD sequels (Eugene Levy, what were you doing?). But we don’t, and to our mind, 2012’s American Reunion is the true fourth movie in the series.
Given that the best part of a decade has passed since we last saw the likes of Jim, Oz, Kevin, Michelle and Finch, the reunion angle is the logical approach to bring them all together. We know that Jim and Michelle will have had a child, too, and we know that all of the key cast from the first film will be back for this new sequel (Seann William Scott, arguably the actor who’s had the most successful career since the original trilogy, included).
The film is shooting imminently, and we’d wager on a summer 2012 release.
Even though the further adventures of Ron Burgundy seem to be getting little studio support, there’s still a groundswell of hope that we’ll finally get Anchorman 2 . It’s still some way off, though.
The cast and crew are all keen to return, but director Adam McKay is circling the movie of The Boys (with Simon Pegg set to feature), and if he commits to that, that adds a further two year wait at the least for an Anchorman sequel.
The general message for those concerned is that Anchorman 2 is a possibility, but far from definite. Sadly, that’ll have to do for now. Bah.
Ah, you know the score here. James Cameron is planning two sequels to The Biggest Movie Of All Time, with Avatar 2 arriving in December 2014, and Avatar 3 in December 2015.
Thus far, we know that Avatar 2 will be looking a little closer at the culture of Na’vi, and that it’ll take place a few years after the first film. Also, it's set to explore the seas of Pandora, and we’re promised volcanoes as well. We like volcanoes.
Less is known of the third film, although Cameron has indicated that at some point, we’re going to get a look at more of the moons of Polyphemus. That might be where Avatar 3 comes in.
Work on both movies is due to begin in earnest shortly.
A third movie in the Bad Boys saga hasn’t been entirely ruled out, which, given that Martin Lawrence is struggling to sell us tickets to watch him in a dress now, is probably music to his ears. The inevitable problem is schedules.
Both Will Smith and director Michael Bay have a slate of potential projects as long as this list, although Bay at least will be free of the Transformers franchise by the end of the summer. We wouldn’t be too sure that Bad Boys 3 will be his next choice of film. Still, it’s one that’s certainly on his radar. We’ve got years to wait for it though at the very earliest, though.
2003’s Bad Santa bordered on being a much better comedy than it turned out to be, but there was still plenty of glee to be gleaned from Billy Bob Thornton’s turn as the worst store Santa ever seen on the big screen.
A possible sequel was teased last year, and Billy Bob Thornton is now believed to be in discussions with The Weinstein Company about a follow-on, which is scheduled to appear in 2012. Whether Terry Zwigoff comes back to direct remains the only main doubt about the project.
This one seems to be stuck in a little bit of a limbo. It’s not helped by Eddie Murphy’s current poisonous box office touch, which has left the long-completed A Thousand Words still unreleased (it's finally been scheduled for early 2012, years after it was completed).
But perhaps before the green light is formally given to Beverly Hills Cop 4 , the powers that be are looking to the performance of Murphy’s next project, Tower Heist. He’s filming that with director, Brett Ratner, and given that the latter is the man strongly linked with helming the return of Axel Foley, it’s perhaps wise to see just how that turns out first.
This one actually looks like it might happen. A third Bill & Ted movie has been rumoured ever since Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey quite literally took us to hell. But as Keanu Reeves’ career took off, the movie was missing, presumed dead.
Only it’s back, and Reeves is very keen to talk about it. His last update suggested that a script was weeks away from being completed, and since then, Alex Winter has confirmed that the screenplay is done. It might not be long before the pair can set off to write the new song that might just save the world.
It won’t have Jason Bourne in it, it won’t be starring Matt Damon, but conversely, it won’t be a reboot, either.
The fourth Bourne movie will be directed by Tony Gilroy (who worked on the screenplays of the first three Bourne movies), and is set to be (very) loosely based around The Bourne Legacy novel. It’s a film set in the world where Jason Bourne exists, rather than a flat-out Bourne movie. It’s also due in summer 2012, and Jeremy Renner has been offered the lead role.
Marvel has confirmed that it’s intending to bring a Captain America sequel to the big screen, this time setting the film in more modern times. Chris Evans is committed to return in the title role, but no further details have thus far been forthcoming.
The box office performance of The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader wasn’t quite what Fox would have been looking for when it took the Narnia franchise off Disney’s hands, but it may just have been enough to get a fourth film made.
The next of the Narnia books to be adapted for the big screen is set to be The Magician’s Nephew , for which cash was reportedly in place before the sad, untimely death of executive producer Perry Moore. Where that leaves Narnia 4 is uncertain, but the plan certainly seems to be to press ahead with the movie franchise.
Very, very sketchy details here, as all we really know is that Vin Diesel is still looking to reprise the role of Riddick. The same Riddick who was brilliant in Pitch Black , and not so brilliant in The Chronicles Of Riddick.
The general consensus surrounding Cloverfield 2 is that it will happen some day, but nobody seems to know when that day will be. Certainly, director Matt Reeves is committed elsewhere for at least the next year, and JJ Abrams has the small matter of Super 8 and a Star Trek sequel to juggle.
There’s also an angle to come up with. All concerned don’t want to just go through the motions of Cloverfield again, and are looking for a different approach. By the sounds of it, that may take a good few years to sort out…
Jason Momoa clearly had a ball playing Conan in the upcoming new take on Conan The Barbarian . So much so that he revealed to us that sequels were already in his thinking. As he said here, “There are sequels to everything.” When asked if the plan was for a follow-up to Conan, he simply responded “Oh, yeah!”
Obviously, this is dependent on how the first film does this coming August. But hopes are high…
Ah, you know most of this by now, we suspect. Christopher Nolan returns to Gotham City one last time, with Christian Bale back as Batman. Joining him this time are Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Tom Hardy as Bane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Juno Temple, Marion Cotillard and Josh Pence. And there’s an abundance of rumours as to who will be joining them, and what the story will be. It’s best you click here to keep up to date with them all.
We had a lot of fun with the original Despicable Me , which was released to box office success last year. Given just how much cash it made (it eclipsed DreamWorks’ Megamind , for starters), it was pretty much inevitable that we’d be seeing Gru and the Minions again.
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