As evidenced by this year’s crop of summer blockbusters, sequels are big business in Hollywood despite their typically lukewarm reviews. Are industry executives giving audiences what they want, or are they just engaging in lazy filmmaking?
IN HOLLYWOOD, less is rarely more and imitation is the sincerest form of prosperity, which is probably why more than half a dozen of this summer’s upcoming blockbuster films are sequels. While critics generally perceive return-to-the-well motion pictures as vapid repeat offenders, enthusiastic audiences generally gobble up film franchises’ multiple installments, whether the Bourne flicks or the Bond bonanzas.
“In movies, if not in love, familiarity apparently breeds devotion,” says Michael Atkinson, a film scholar and critic and the coauthor of
Flickipedia: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal, and Whim. Sequel mania, he is quick to point out, has been around since the Golden Age of Hollywood film series like
The Thin Man and
Blondie. But he believes that sequels are usually subpar, “unable to best or duplicate the first film’s creative successes,” he says.
The filmmakers behind this summer’s sequels are well aware of the critical bias against their creations. However, they refuse to chafe at the suggestion that they are merely printing money by revisiting preexisting concepts. Instead, they say they’ve worked harder than ever to create great films. Shawn Levy, who directed this month’s
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, says that in this second installment, he wanted to go deeper into the loneliness felt by the film’s main character, played by
Ben Stiller. “This sequel is bigger in scope as well as deeper in theme and emotion,” Levy says. “I think audiences will find it a more satisfying experience than the first.”
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs scripter Yoni Brenner believes that the key to successful sequels is allowing ample screen time for character development. “We obviously wanted to up the ante [with the second sequel], and without question, this is the biggest, most visually dazzling
Ice Age yet,” Brenner says. “But at the end of the day, we understand that it’s all about the characters. I think that’s the challenge: to think of fresh, funny, and dynamic directions for the story but always keep these ideas grounded in our characters.”
For the fourth
X-Men film,
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, producer Lauren Shuler Donner wanted to tell the titular character’s origin story by drawing on 46 years of
Marvel Comics narrative as well as on the revisionary
X-Men mythology provided in the first trio of films. “Truth is, sequels are tough,” she says. “You have to top yourself in terms of action and visual effects yet serve your story and characters first and foremost.”
Despite the economic challenges of the time, Hollywood has been enjoying anomalously robust boxoffice numbers, and studios are optimistic that this summer’s blockbuster slate will continue to snare large audiences. With gargantuan budgets as high as $300 million (for
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), there is certainly a lot at stake. Though
Flickipedia’s Atkinson says this summer’s crop will likely “print money for the studios,” he expects the films to be creatively bankrupt.
Ice Age’s Brenner -- who grew up in the 1980s enjoying sequel franchises such as Indiana Jones,
Gremlins, and
Beverly Hills Cop -- shrugs off such criticism. He says that the audience is sacrosanct and that he strives to honor viewers’ loyalty at the box office with the most entertaining film possible.
“If a critic walks into a movie already convinced that it’s a commercial exercise -- well, there’s not much we can do about that,” Brenner says. “But to a fan, a great sequel will always seem like a gift from the movie gods.”
More, More, More
Will these film franchises with new releases this summer be better the second (or third or fourth or sixth) time around?
MAY 1
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
PREQUEL TO: X-Men (2000), X2 (2003), and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
STARS: Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schreiber
MAY 8
Star Trek
SEQUEL TO: Six Star Trek TV series and 10 movie adaptations
STARS: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg
MAY 15
Angels & Demons
PREQUEL TO: The Da Vinci Code (2006)
STARS: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård
MAY 21
Terminator Salvation
SEQUEL TO: The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
STARS: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Helena Bonham Carter
MAY 22
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
SEQUEL TO: Night at the Museum (2007)
STARS: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Robin Williams
JUNE 24
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
SEQUEL TO: Transformers (2007)
STARS: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
JULY 1
Ice age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
SEQUEL TO: Ice age (2002) and Ice age: The Meltdown (2006)
FEATURES THE VOICES OF: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary
JULY 17
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
SEQUEL TO: Five previous Harry Potter films
STARS: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint