You may not remember Anaconda. It was a mildly successful 1997 film starring a young J-Lo and Owen Wilson.
Owen Wilson was so new to movie audiences in 1997 he was billed AFTER Eric Stoltz.
You may not remember Eric Stoltz. If so, consider yourself blessed.
Since it has been so long since the original, most of the film's core demographic has grown OUT of the demographic.
So they call the film Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, that way fans of the original will go and see it, and people that have never heard of that film may still go to this one.
It is a pretty common practice today.
The Whole Ten Yards, is a sequel to The Whole Nine Yards a film with an ALL STAR cast (or at least a 1980's American league All Star cast).
Nonetheless, it was not a HUGE hit. Still, they made a sequel. They rarely mentioned that it was a sequel in the advertisements. Heck, they didn't even put the first names of the two stars on the poster, hoping that fans of Refrigerator Perry and Gary Coleman might mistakenly buy a ticket. Still, the fans never showed and the film ended up making just $16 million dollars. That may sound like a lot, but remember Refrigerator Perry and Gary Coleman WERE NOT IN THIS FILM. Instead, this was a film that starred REAL movie stars.
Perhaps it was the lack of a number '2' in the title that kept the crowd away. Legally Blonde 2 proudly wore it's '2' and I am pretty sure Refrigerator Perry and Gary Coleman were not in that film either.
The Bourne Supremecy chose to keep the '2' out of it's title, too. Instead they just replaced the word 'identity' with a word that rhymes with it. This does, however, limit the sequel names.
After they make:
The Bourne Clemency
The Bourne Chemistry
The Bourne Theocracy
and
The Bourne Lemon Tree
they will HAVE to retire the franchise.
Had they stuck with the NUMBER system there is no END to the number of sequels they could make.
This whole wacky sequel thing has been going on forever, but the latest wave of silly sequel titles can be traced back to Teen Wolf.
See, when it came time to make a sequel, rather than go with the number 2, they spelled it out. But, they spelled it 'too.'
See! He was ALSO a Teen Wolf.
Why didn't anyone else think of this?
Godfather Too he is ALSO a Godfather! And it lightens the mood, the number is much more somber! Why are there no more part 'too' films?
Who knows. Still, there are plenty of wacky titles that came around after Justin Bateman sprouted fur in the moonlight.
Since then we have been deluged with them:
Men In Black 2 became MIIB
Analyze This 2 became Analyze That
and
Independence Day (which wasn't EVEN a sequel) became ID4
Yes, it looks like wacky sequel titles are here to stay.
OTHER SEQUEL JUNK:
Movie Marathons
Baby Genius 2
Do you have a favorite sequel?
While, I enjoy sequels with wacky names, I much prefer sequels that are promised at the end of the original, but never made. This includes "Ice Breaker", which was promised at the end of "For Your Eyes Only", although I believe "Octopussy" was the next Bond film. "Bingo's Big Adventure" was a great sequel never made. This would have been the wacky the sequel to Bingo, a comedy about a boy and his dog.
ReplyDeleteI loved the original Bingo. He was the canine Macualy Caulkin.
I wish they would make a sequel to the greatest movie ever made, "The Lizzie McGuire Movie". I NEED to know what happened to that Italian Pop Star!!! For now, I can only theorize what happened to her with my Lizzie McGuire fan fiction. I also have a neat fan fic story about Lizzie losing her hat!! Great stuff!!!
ReplyDeleteYou know what would be AWESOME??? A sequel in which Evel Knievel jumps over the anaconda. Oh man that would be SWWWEEEEEEETTTTTT!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, I also have Lizzie McGuire fan fic, in which Lizzie goes medival on Avril Lavrigne. Or as she jokes in the story, "Midavril". Oh man, that one made me laugh!!
ReplyDeleteGene Hackman is so cool, sequels make him!
ReplyDeleteeric stoltz rocks, and you know it sweetie!
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't Gary Coleman in more movies? I liked that one where he went to hollywood to become a movie star... oh wait that was Kermit the Frog.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention Owen Wilson's other contribution to wacky sequel names: Shanghi Knights. It doesn't even make sense. Shanghi Noon was a play on 'High Noon' Knights is just silly.
ReplyDeleteJenni21, Gary Coleman has not been in a lot of movies lately, because his last few films flopped. After a string of hits in the early 90s such appearing opposite Keanu Reeves in "Speed", Coleman went on to star in the thriller "The Net" as well as the romantic comedy, "While You Were Sleeping." Coleman was so big that John Grisham actually created a part for him in "A Time to Kill". Recently, Coleman's past few films have not grossed very much money as his Hollywood Buzz has died down. "Murder by the Numbers", "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and "Miss Congenality" failed to strike a chord with the movie going public. Currently, Coleman has no films in the works, preferring to focus on producing new movies. Hope this helps.
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