Now that we’ve all had a chance to rail on the blatant moneymaking schemes that are spinoffs and remakes, it’s time to tackle the least of the offenders. This one is well-known but generally better tolerated, especially since, occasionally, it’s what audiences actually want. Imagine that.
Meet the sequel.
These days, a successful movie is almost guaranteed a chance at a sequel. With so many novels (graphic and otherwise) being translated to movie form, sometimes the continuing storyline is built in – and sometimes, as in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, the filmmakers are so confident that they shamelessly end on a cliffhanger.
But there are some sequels out there that you may not know about. They were made and discarded, either direct-to-video or box office flops. They might not be worth watching, but they sure are interesting to read about.
CHINATOWN
This gritty Roman Polanski classic doesn’t quite stand alone – in fact, it was meant to be the first part of a trilogy about Jack Nicholson’s character, J.J Gittes. Jack Nicholson took on the task of both starring in and directing the sequel, The Two Jakes. But when it failed at the box office, the plans for the third film (Cloverleaf) was scrapped. (It was later dug up and parodied in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.)
A CHRISTMAS STORY
Audiences took so nicely to raconteur Jean Shepherd’s Christmas memories that a sequel was released in 1994, It Runs in the Family. (Later, the title was changed to My Summer Story for a better tie-in to the original.) Jean Shepherd narrated again, but the rest of the cast was changed, and the story was based mostly on tales from Shepherd’s book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. Though a charming tale, it didn’t stand up to the classic standards set by A Christmas Story, and the extremely limited release assured that almost nobody found out why.
THE WIZARD OF OZ
It took forty-six years for a sequel to come out, but come out it did – in the form of Return to Oz, starring Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. Thrust back into the “real world,” Dorothy can’t stop thinking about her experiences in Oz, leading to her undergoing electroshock therapy for her “insanity.” But she is swept away to Oz once more, to undergo new adventures. Poorly received at the time, Return to Oz has since become a cult classic.
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