Why is it that sequels far too often disappoint?
It shouldn’t have to be that way. But there are reasons for this unfortunate phenomena.
Say a studio has a big blockbuster on its hands—maybe one they didn’t see coming.
All of a sudden there’s great chatter all over the entertainment media. And before the movie barely makes it through its second week, enthusiastic studio PR people are announcing definite plans for a sequel.
Now what?
They want to get rolling while the fire’s still burning and the concept’s fresh on the minds of the movie going public.
However there could be a couple of problems.
The first being that the script for the sequel is non-existent. The second that not everyone aligned to the original film has signed on for the sequel.
Net result: a new script is rushed out. After all, we know what the public liked about the first movie—so let’s just load up the new one with more of the same.
As for casting the picture? Okay, so we may have to dole out a few extra buck to get so-and-so back for the sequel.
Remember we’ve got a build-in audience for No. 2!
Which brings me to NEIGHBORS which set the box office on fire when it opened in the spring of 2014.
So why NOT more of the same? Yeah, that’s the ticket………
Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne re expecting a second child and moving into a better neighborhood.
But first they’ve got to sell their old house. And sure enough there’s a potential buyer.
There’s also a fork in the road; the old house will require a 30 day escrow period before the deal closes. And anything going bad at or near the place could be a deal killer.
You guessed it, a group of sorority babes led by Chloe Grace Moritz move into Zac Efron’s old frat pad next door and all hell breaks out—AGAIN.
In other words NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING is the same old, same old.
And that’s too bad since the original movie had sharp writing, good direction and some truly funny situations—not to mention executions.
Here they’re just going through the motions with cheap, gross-out laughs.
To think that this is all the five person writing team including Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg could come up with is….well troubling.
Sure NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING will open big this weekend.
But whether it’ll have ‘legs’ remains to be seen.
My score: C+
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM, KMBZ—And anytime on the Jack Goes To The Movies Facebook page.
There are literally hundreds of books written with fantastic themes, plots, and characters, but because someone might have to hire a script writer, we see sequels and remakes. Perhaps it is time that Hollywood took a risk.
+1
Some years ago, I made my first trip to the Chicago Field Museum and was fascinated to learn about the Tsavo Lions. I subsequently read several books about them, including John Patterson’s rendition of the events at Tsavo, circa 1898. I won’t go into detail, but the story is astonishing. Combining politics, money, courage, hubris, superstition (?) and luck, it is a mesmerizing adventure tale and all true. All Hollywood had to do, was hire competent actors and stick to the truth. Instead, we got “The Ghost And The Darkness”. Pathetic.
Another example is Mario Van Peebles and his movie “Posse”. Black cowboys were 40% of the population on the trail in the 19th century and were around 1/2 of the Bounty Hunters sent into places like the “Badlands” to fetch bad guys on the run. The stories of their forays into dangerous territory resulting in success, failure and sometimes death are a light year more interesting than this predictable offering.
Yep. Plenty of material exists for what should be great flicks, with very low budgets, telling astonishing stories of daring do.
Next up. Another “Spiderman”.
By the way. If you did suffer through “The Ghost And The Darkness”, they did get one thing dead on the money. The scene with the lion captured in a seemingly unescapable, fatal situation, in a cage, about 12′ by 12′, captured, with three guys with guns, shooting into the cage to kill it, was accurate.
The Lion escaped unharmed.
At one point, after the suspension of the effort to build the Rail, Patterson had a nervous breakdown and had to go home to England to recover. Those lions were terrifying.
My rule with movies is , never go see anything with a 3 attached to it.
Its been years since Hollywood made a movie that could keep me awake more than 20 minutes.
Or a Seth Rogan attached to it
Ayup!
This movie does not have a 3 in it.