SEQUELS Joshua Sumskis

What is a sequel? A literary work, movie, etc…, that is complete in itself but continues the narrative of a preceding work Continues with elements of the original story with the same characters and settings Can lead to a series Also less of a risk for creators because it’s already popular instead of untested characters that haven’t been developed. Audiences also want to see more stories with these known characters…. ….SO production of sequels is usually financially appealing.

Early History It is hard to pinpoint the exact start of sequel history, but the concept of it has been existed since the advent of storytelling. The first known sequel in film is The Fall of A Nation directed by Thomas Dixon Jr. , continuing D.W. Griffith’s Birth of A Nation Film is now considered lost.

Sequel Qualities Good Sequels… Bad Sequels… Maintain continuity Have a “Wow Factor,” meaning dynamics are just as intense as the original Improve on things that made the original good Are bigger in scope usually Deviate from main plot Convoluted and congested storyline Difficult to re-use same characters, especially in horror films, because they’ve already been killed in previous films. Don’t let characters grow. Out to make more money for the sake of making money “More of the same” sometimes can’t be effective.

Spiderman 2 (2004) The sequel to Spiderman, this movie received high acclaim from critics and was featured on lists of being the best superhero movie of all time Critics were noted as saying “it improves upon its predecessor in almost every way” Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpgrOgypc9g Classic fight scene with memorable villain Doc Ock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z00fTwhmYX0 Won Academy Award for Best Visual Effects This film is the essence of what sequels encompass. Could this film be surpassed? YES!!!

The Dark Knight (2008) Built off the success of Batman Begins, this film had a monstrous and very successful run in theaters and broke records. Was the fourteenth highest grossing movie of all time and broke the billion dollar mark within months of its release. Won two Academy Awards with Best Sound Editing and Best Suporting Actor posthumously given to Heath Ledger for his legendary portrayal of The Joker, Batman’s arch nemesis. Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2szViJlaY These two superhero sequels definitely paved the way for more movies like these to be made such as Iron Man and The Avengers and countless others. The formula for successful sequels is found in these movies.

Scream 2 (1997) The horror genre is notorious for spewing out sequel after utterly stupid sequel. Scream 2 puts a spin on horror movies by explaining the “rules of horror movie sequels” and satirizing them, while becoming a very popular sequel itself. Film class- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzKYNZY9Hpk Randy explains sequel rules- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWeaYCoh1qk The film continued to maintain continuity with the main characters. Being a horror movie, a killer or killers needs to be killing and Scream does that well because different people are the killer throughout the movies and not just one killer like Freddy Krueger or Jason. Good Sequel Honorable Mentions- Back to the Future Part 2, Terminator 2, The Godfather Part 2, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Matrix Reloaded

“More of the same”…NOT Bad sequels try to get away with doing what’s been done in previous movies. Spiderman 3 was negatively received because fans didn’t like the story and there were too many villains (3) which is too many!!! Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd was disastrous because they switched out Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels for other actors. A Christmas Story 2 lets people know the rule “don’t mess with the original” because it had bad qualities of a sequel: brand new cast, more of the same wasn’t good at all, and story was cheesy and corny.

References Video clips from Youtube Still Pictures from Yahoo Images Sequel and Movie Information from Wikipedia