Taking into account the great diversity and variety of options that we have at our fingertips, human beings, in general, like to do the same thing many times. If you were looking for proof of this, you don’t need to look far at the current crop of movies on offer at your local theater. This really seems to be a summer of sequels, familiar characters and stories, and overall, more of the same Hollywood summer blockbuster.
Okay, that’s not so fair, but at the same time, it is. But can you really blame the movie studios for sending us one sequel after another? If you look at the box office figures, the public devours it. Why did this happened? Well, when a second or even a third part of a movie franchise is released, you can watch it in two ways: 1) the first movie was so commercially successful that it would be crazy not to try & capitalize; or 2) the characters in the first movie were so well developed that trying to tie a loose end just because the credits start rolling seems almost criminal.
So in the grand scheme of things, the sequels aren’t necessarily that bad. However, for a while they were really hard to digest. If you paid enough attention, you could see how movie studios chose to make a sequel’s title play with the original title instead of adding a number.
However, things have changed and, year after year, audiences are receiving tremendous films. These movies are also driven by well-crafted storylines and complex characters that just can’t (figuratively) be contained on screen, which is why the sequel makes for quite a hot commodity. In fact, looking at the movies listed below, some may argue that the follow-up movie is unique in terms of anticipation.
Here’s a look at five current movies and the originals that inspired them:
jurassic world Y Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Technically, it could go back to the original Jurassic Park of the early 1990s, but looking at the Jurassic World movies as their own franchise, it’s easy to see how a sequel (and what appears to be a third installment at some point) would work . Dinosaurs, evil plots, and the constant battle between humanity and nature make these movies worth watching.
The Incredibles Y Incredibles 2 – When almost a decade and a half goes by, and audiences are still in awe of how things have changed for the main characters, you know you have a series of killer movies. Make these movies a priority.
Ant Man Y Ant-Man and the Wasp – Since the sequel is woven between the story arcs of two Avengers movies (Civil war Y Infinite war), it can be said that the creators of this unique superhero franchise were ready to tell some serious stories about this tiny powerhouse.
dead Pool Y Deadpool 2 – Love, revenge and breaking the fourth wall in a movie make one of the most interesting superheroes to have emerged in what seems like a glut of comic book movies. Still, as much as the antihero treats us with intense violence and profanity, these movies actually have a poignant love story that connects them. By the way, get familiar with the term “fridging” – your post-movie conversations are sure to ask for your opinion.
Hotel transylvania Y Hotel Transylvania 3 – What do you get when you combine an ensemble voice cast, some of the greatest monsters in history and literature, and combine them with a fairly familiar trope of opposites attraction, and have the basics for Hotel Transylvania? The events of the third film in the franchise take place nearly a decade after the first, and family becomes the overwhelming subject.
Yes, the idea that many current movies are sequels may not be the most exciting thing in the world at first, you must ask yourself an important question: did I have fun the first time? If so, this may turn out to be one of the most movie-centric summers in recent memory.
