With the news that Sin
City 2 flopped so hard it reverberated across the world, Stealth Media
Films asks what it takes to make a good sequel.
Sequels are the Unknown Quantity of the Film World
The sequel is the unknown
quantity of the film world. As a film finance firm, Stealth Media Films sees
movie makers struggle with this all the time.
They’ve had a hit, and there
might be an appetite for another film, but so many sequels fail. How do you
know whether your film concept will even work a second time around? How can you
know whether the audience has had their fill, or whether they’ll flock to the
theatre in droves?
Five Films that Defied the Odds…
In Stealth Media Films’ opinion,
we can learn from the successful sequels that have defied the odds. We can
determine something about what it takes to make a successful sequel from each
of the following five films…
1.
Empire
Strikes Back: The Star Wars sequel
was one of those rare films that was actually more successful than its
predecessor. Why? Many reasons, but one of the most obvious has to be that ‘Luke,
I am your father’ moment. It got everyone talking, proving that a shock twist
will always make for a successful sequel.
2.
Toy Story
2: Audiences loved Toy Story, and
they loved Toy Story 2 – the
continued story of Woody and Buzz Lightyear, just as much. Essentially, this
film added something new to the plot – it developed the relationship between
the two main characters. It goes deeper, expanding on themes of powerlessness
present in the first film, showing that sequels often prove successful when
they expand upon what the audience found so compelling about the original film
in the first place.
3.
Aliens:
Alien may have proved a hit, but Aliens shot the sci-fi franchise into
the stratosphere, making it one of the most beloved in geek history. In this
case, it was just a film that upped the ante, showing that successful sequels
only prove lucrative when they actively try to top what came before.
4.
The Two
Towers: Epic as part of a trilogy, nevertheless, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is fantastic as a standalone
piece, and proved a truly successful sequel. Here they clearly just relied on
quality story-telling. As a second movie in a trilogy, Two Towers had the potential to be nothing more than filler, but
like any successful sequel, it moved the story on, drawing audiences into
Middle Earth all over again.
5.
The Dark
Knight: What a fantastic sequel this was! Batman sequel The Dark Knight
gripped audiences just as much as the first instalment did, thanks in no small
part to Heath Ledger’s perfect casting as the Joker. Sometimes, casting is all
a sequel needs to matchup to the bar set by its predecessor.
Audiences like to Be Introduced to Something New
What each of these five films can
tell us in their own way, is that the successful sequel is one that steps it up
a gear; that adds something new. A sequel that relies on a story, a formula,
that the audience has seen before is bound to fall on deaf ears. Audiences may
like familiarity, but they also like to be introduced to something new
