9 Upcoming Movie Sequels That We Don’t Really Need

Right now, it seems that the movie industry is almost entirely made up of sequels and prequels, and reboots and revamps. Some of them are very welcome – like the new Star Wars films – while others are at least intriguing – the new female-led Ghostbusters, for example. However, it has to be said that many of the sequels that Hollywood currently has in the works are entirely unnecessary. Many franchises are being stretched well beyond their natural life span just because they continue to make the studio money, as audiences flock to see films with a familiar brand name. Yes, I am saying that it’s your fault we’ve got Alvin and The Chipmunks 3: Road Chip. In the following pages are just a small selection of the movie sequels coming in the next few years that we really don’t need. Please don’t go and see them. We beg you. Think about it, do you really want an Alvin and the Chipmunks 4? 9) Transformers 5 We’re not sure what else we can say about Michael Bay’s never-ending Transformers franchise that hasn’t been said before. While the first film was fine, they quickly descended into the depths of dumb blockbusterdom with the odious Revenge of the Fallen. No one expected them to be high art, but a film series about giant robots smashing into each other should be fun – yet many of us now groan when we hear another is on the way. We really hoped the last film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, would do what it said on the tin and kill off the franchise, but, unfortunately and unsurprisingly, it didn’t. That said, Bay has promised that this next one would be his last time directing a Transformers movie so… ah, we’re not even going to get our hopes up. Transformers 5 (as yet untitled) is set to land in 2017. 8) Alice Through The Looking Glass After Tim Burton’s Alice in CGILand, sorry, Wonderland arrived to mostly negative reviews back in 2010, no one was crying out for a sequel – well, no one apart from Disney execs, as the film was actually a massive box office hit. You could argue that there is no harm in a sequel as, of course, Lewis Carrol did write two books about Alice. However, the first film was already a jumble of elements from both books, so a sequel is needless. Apart from its title, Through The Looking Glass isn’t based on Carrol and has invented its own storyline – something about Sacha Baron Cohen kidnapping Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter. A big consolation is, though, that it will give us one of our last chances to hear the dulcet tones of the much-missed Alan Rickman, as he reprised his role as the Caterpillar before he died. Alice Through The Looking Glass will futterwacken its way onto cinemas this May. 7) Ice Age: Collision Course The first Ice Age was one of the stronger animated films not from Disney or Dreamworks – while it borrowed from better movies like Shrek and Monsters Inc., it was still a fun ride. However, the franchise has dipped in quality with each successive instalment (the rather fun Dawn of the Dinosaurs excepted). Because of that, we’re not looking forward to the upcoming Ice Age 5, subtitled Collision Course, which sees a meteor heading for Earth – caused by hungry squirrel-rat Scrat. Who is in space. For some reason. It will no doubt entertain kids for an hour and a half but it just further hurts the legacy of the genuinely good first film. Aren’t kids more interested in Minions than the Ice Age by now, anyway? Ice Age: Collision Course is set to smash into theatres this July. 6) Avatar 2 Despite remaining the highest-grossing film ever made, Avatar didn’t impress critics in quite the same way. Though it became cool to slam the movie more than it probably deserves, its run-of-the-mill storyline really turned people off. That hasn’t stopped James Cameron from pushing ahead with an Avatar franchise, though, with plans for a sequel, a threequel and possibly a fourth film being in the works. Given that Avatar was seven years ago now and the sequel’s release date keeps getting delayed, the movies may well never materialize. While it would no doubt be frustrating for Cameron after such a long gestation period (he has worked on nothing else since Avatar), it is probably for the best if we don’t make a return visit to Pandora. 5) Blade Runner 2 This might be the most intriguing sequel on this list, but it can’t be argued that we actually need another Blade Runner movie. The 1982 original is a stone-cold classic of the sci-fi genre, and one which ended on an ambiguous note – something which would surely be ruined by a follow-up. Though fans are now pretty much agreed that Rick Deckard is a replicant, it is better for this to be left as a fan discussion than to be revisited in another film. Likewise, while Ryan Gosling is apparently the new lead, Harrison Ford is returning to reprise his role as Deckard. While it was great to see him in The Force Awakens, Ford’s return to his other popular character from the 80s – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – was met with much less praise. If it has to happen, let’s hope Blade Runner 2 doesn’t ‘nuke the fridge.’ 4) Mary Poppins 2 Alongside the many live-action versions of their animated classics, Disney recently made the surprise announcement that they were developing a new Mary Poppins film. Rather than a remake of the original, it will be a sequel. Though obviously featuring a brand-new cast. For starters, no one has been going mad in the 52 years since the film’s release wondering where Julie Andrews went next, after flying away from London at the movie’s close. In any case, we’ve basically already had a couple of new Mary Poppins films in recent years with Emma Thompson’s so-so Nanny McPhee movies. While it will no doubt be a successful venture for Disney in box office takings, a Mary Poppins sequel will never be as beloved a film as the first one. We’ll need more than a spoonful of sugar to help this one go down. 3) Die Hard: Year One The Die Hard series is another franchise that suffers from largely ever-decreasing sequels, with the fifth film, A Good Day to Die Hard, being far and away the worst. As such, the news that a sixth instalment would be made – and that it would be a prequel to boot – was met with a universal facepalm. For one, the first Die Hard tells us all we need to know about John McClane’s backstory – so there is no need to show us, say, how he meets his wife Holly or his younger days as a cop. The regular big issue with prequels applies here as well – where are the stakes if we know where all the characters end up? One plus side of this could have been that it would give Bruce Willis a rest, as he has been phoning his way through the role lately. However, that is not the case, as the film will be half-prequel and half-sequel, so Willis will still get a chunk of the action. At this rate, the next film should be called Just Die Hard Already. 2) Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales We all once loved Pirates of the Caribbean and Johnny Depp’s idiosyncratic turn as Captain Jack Sparrow – but sadly most people’s good will for the franchise and the character disappeared many years ago. While Curse of the Black Spot is a proper modern classic, its follow-ups, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, were turgid puddings of films while the fourth, On Stranger Tides, was merely forgettable. Still, there is a chance that Pirates 5 – officially called Dead Men Tell No Tales – could be the best since the first one (though that isn’t a tall order). It will see the return of Orlando Bloom to the franchise and, more excitingly, will see Javier Bardem as the film’s villain. That man – along with Judi Dench - is probably the main reason that James Bond film Skyfall was such a hit in 2012, so let’s hope he can work some of the same magic this time. The film is set to drop anchor in May 2017. 1) Toy Story 4 The first Toy Story smashed expectations away in 1995 by proving to people that this new-fangled CGI animation could produce just as heartfelt films as the traditional style. Remarkably, the same level of quality remained for its sequel in 1999 and then again in 2010. With the Toy Story films, Pixar have proved that they only make sequels when they have a good story in place (no one mention Cars). That said, we can’t help but be wary of the upcoming Toy Story 4. The arc of Woody, Buzz and their owner Andy was wrapped up so well in Toy Story 3 that it not only seems like Pixar are pushing their luck with another but that there is no more story left to tell. Apparently, the film will detail a love story between Woody and Bo Peep, building on their romance featured in the first two Toy Storys. While Pixar will surely make a decent stab at it, a fourth Toy Story risks tarnishing one of the great movie trilogies of all time (yes, it’s true). It would probably be best if Pixar just closed the lid on this toybox for good.