{"id":641,"date":"2010-06-08T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T06:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/?p=641"},"modified":"2010-06-08T00:00:55","modified_gmt":"2010-06-08T06:00:55","slug":"sequel-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/sequel-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"Sequel Patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Iron Man series is in danger of following the Planet of the Apes<\/em> sequel model \u2013 a masterful first movie, followed by crappy sequels that can\u2019t hold a candle to the original.<\/p>\n

Other movies that have followed this pattern:
\nBatman<\/em> (Burton version)
\nRocky
\nBack to the Future
\nGhostbusters<\/em> (A third movie will suck.)
\nThe Matrix <\/em>(Which, sadly, I haven\u2019t seen \u2013 but they tell me the sequels suck.)
\nEvery Horror Movie with Multiple Sequels – Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th<\/em>, etc.<\/p>\n

I should add the Indiana Jones movies to the above list, as very few movies can hold a candle to Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/em>, which is essentially a perfect film. But The Last Crusade <\/em>is a really good movie, so it hurts to dis it by lumping it in to these other failures. Temple of Doom <\/em>and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/em> are both forgettable, but I like them, too. But if I\u2019m really going to be honest with myself, Indiana Jones is a Planet Of The Apes<\/em>-sequeled franchise.<\/p>\n

My initial bet was that Iron Man would follow most superhero franchises in adopting the Star Wars<\/em> sequel model \u2013 an amazing first film, and then, impossibly, an even better second film, followed by a piece of crap to round out the trilogy. If they bother to make a fourth film, it will be one of the worst films ever made.<\/p>\n

Other franchises that have taken this route:<\/p>\n

The Godfather<\/em>
\nSuperman <\/em>(Christopher Reeve versions)
\nSpider-Man
\nX-Men<\/em><\/p>\n

Nolan\u2019s Batman movies are on this trajectory, as are the Toy Story <\/em>movies. Only time will tell if they can break the mold.<\/p>\n

Some insist that the Burton\/Schumacher Batman flicks followed this pattern, but Batman Returns<\/em> is crap. Still, Batman and Robin, Superman IV <\/em>and The Phantom Menace <\/em>all share the Phenomenon of the Fourth Film Flatulent Failure, so maybe I should rewatch Batman Returns<\/em> to reconsider. (No, I shouldn\u2019t. DeVito\u2019s penguin is loathsome without being interesting. Christopher Walken is sleepy and boring. Although, I admit, Michelle Pfeiffer is kind of groovy.) The Wolverine<\/em> flick is mediocre, but it\u2019s not Superman IV <\/em>bad, and it\u2019s probably better than X-Men 3<\/em>. But I\u2019m not sure it really qualifies as an X-Men sequel, per se.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good thing they\u2019ve decided to reboot Spider-Man<\/em>, because all indications were that Spider-Man 4<\/em> was going to follow in Batman and Robin<\/em>\u2019s footsteps. And heaven forbid they make a Godfather IV<\/em>. It\u2019s nice to know that Sofia Coppola has managed to make a career as something other than \u201cthe wretched actress who single-handedly destroyed the Godfather<\/em> franchise.\u201d It\u2019s inspiring that someone can fail that completely and publicly and somehow be able to live it down.<\/p>\n

The Star Trek sequels defy all categorization except their own, which insists that the odd-numbered movies suck and the even-numbered movies are awesome. But Trek III is pretty good; Trek X blows, and Trek XI \u2013 or, more accurately, Trek I Redux \u2013 is one of the best of the franchise.<\/p>\n

Only one franchise \u2013 The Lord of the Rings<\/em> \u2013 did it the right way, with each film improving on the one before. The reality, though, is that The Lord of the Rings<\/em> is a single story sliced into three books\/movies, so it has a structural advantage that the others didn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

Prediction: The Hobbit<\/em> will probably be lousy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TheIron Man series is in danger of following the Planet of the Apes<\/em> sequel model \u2013 a masterful first movie, followed by crappy sequels that can\u2019t hold a candle to the original.Other movies that have followed this pattern:Batman<\/em> (Burton version)RockyBack to the FutureGhostbusters<\/em> (A third movie will suck.)The Matrix <\/em>(Which, sadly, I ... Read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}