Sequels Today, watching Forrest Gump, and Looking Towards Tomorrow
Fatigue over trends in new releases and are we really trapped in post-postmodernism?
I recently had a conversation with a dear friend about how tired we are hearing the announcements for some upcoming movie sequel releases. The back-and-forth DMs were sparked by her sharing a poster with me for The Goonies: Curse Of One-Eyed Willy - coming in summer 2026. Little did she know that moments prior to that, in one of my unfortunate instances of doom-scrolling, I had come across a poster for Gremlins 3. “Where’s all the original stuff?!” we were asking each other, and ourselves.
A little bit of research reveals that a new Goonies movie does indeed seem to be in the works, whereas another instalment of Gremlins hasn’t yet been greenlit. I love the initial releases of those films. They are fond childhood memories, magically conjured worlds that I grew up with and make up part of who I am. And yes, if and when these modern sequels do come out, I will very likely watch them (full disclosure: don’t hold me to this, because I had said the same thing about Ghostbusters and I still haven’t seen the latest two releases from that franchise). A new Beverly Hills Cop is shot and ready-to-go, the trailer currently doing the rounds. I’ll likely watch that too.
So What’s Going On?
We live in an era where the nostalgia factor in commercial endeavours is high. In a post-postmodern phase a lot of pop culture revolves around revisiting common and comforting elements of our past, the mid-to-late 80s and early 90s being the current trend. It can be fun. I enjoyed the latest Indiana Jones on the big screen, hearing John Williams’ classic score in surround sound had the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Top Gun Maverick was one of the best films of 2022. The commercial success between those two titles wasn’t the same, my understanding being that Indiana Jones proved a huge disappointment to the financiers, if not a failure. At a $300 million budget, expectations were probably for $1 billion in ticket sales. The result was half of that. Of which even less makes its way to the Studio.
The Studios keep producing films based on already existing intellectual property because to them it at least feels like a safer bet that they’ll see a return on their investment. This would be fine. I mean, cool, bring on another Gremlins! But right now these productions are at the expense of originality. The industry had to adapt following the shape-shift of the home video market, which used to provide an income equal to if not bigger than cinema receipts. That collapse (due to many factors I won’t go into here but will do in future posts) means having to largely avoid mid-range budget films and original material, favouring bigger budget investments for ‘event’ films. Star Wars. Marvel. Lord Of The Rings (which is about to be revived in a new version).
So are gone the Kramer vs. Kramers, the Back To The Futures, the Pulp Fictions and the Good Will Huntings.
Increasingly, though, this model isn’t proving financially efficient.
We don’t realise how much we vote with our wallets. The old adage being that if you keep going to see a certain kind of film, the Studios will keep making them, and therefore we have only ourselves to blame.
But I disagree this school of thought is the only factor at play. Nothing is black-and-white. I’m more of a “If you build it, they will come” kind of guy; meaning, us audiences will go see what’s available.
In walks Forrest Gump
So it was with some excitement that when another friend texted me a couple of weeks ago, to let me know Robert Zemeckis’ (the man behind Back To The Future, Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit,…) Forrest Gump was playing at the local multiplex, I realised something else is going on.
I’m not talking about a retrospective season, not a film festival focussing on ‘classics’, no particular anniversary. Just, the big-player chain multiplex screening Forrest Gump from 1994. '“It’ll probably be a quiet theatre, not many people around, but to see that at the cinema again, wow, that could be cool!”.
My friend clued me in on the fact that this multiplex was playing a classic every week. In fact a year prior I had been to a screening of a newly preserved 4k issue of Mulholland Drive. On Thursday they’re screening 1986’s The Mission. Next week it’s the more recent Cannes-winning Annette.
OK so I’m getting excited about going to see a film I’ve seen before. But my argument, when I was originally complaining, wasn’t about the lack of “new”, but of original. And for something that was made with care and could feel timeless. I was craving a certain quality.
On the night it screened, the cinema was packed! Not sold out, but very busy. Not what I expected for a Wednesday night playing a 30-year old film. Better still, it wasn’t 40-somethings like us reliving their experience of seeing this modern classic on the big screen again. There were a lot of teenagers and 20-somethings, transfixed. It seemed to me like they felt lucky to be catching this. When the credits were done and the house lights came on, I walked out slowly, dragging myself to eavesdrop on their conversations. The quality of the acting, the travelling through the historical time periods, the humour, the tragedy - I heard murmurs about all of these aspects being discussed with excitement and admiration.
It’s Not For Nothing
It might just be we need to apply ourselves mindfully when making a choice. We must not limit ourselves to simply what’s marketed the biggest and loudest, what pops up first on Netflix’s homepage, nor should we allow our minds to simply drift towards the familiar.
2024 is going to see a new Alien film, Despicable Me 4, Bad Boys 4, Deadpool 3 (surprisingly the only Marvel release this year, perhaps evidence of the market fatigue),… and more. These titles will doubtless represent the majority chunk of the annual box office, regardless if individually any one or more may be financial flops.
On the macro level, the industry is currently working out what direction it’s going to take next and how its business models need to evolve. But on the micro level, where we hold the power as audiences, we can still be surprised and challenged if we allow ourselves to be. We can see old and older movies on the big screen. We can also go see the smaller releases too, the independent films, the ones without the huge marketing budgets. When was the last time you just watched something at random that you had never heard of that you thought was amazing?
As writer-director Cord Jefferson said on stage when he won his Oscar this year for Best Adapted Screenplay for American Fiction (granted, based on previous intellectual property, but still what I’d call an original bursting through the noise); stunned, he pleaded (his words) for ten $20 million movies instead of one $200 million movie. I can’t help but agree with him and wonder what absolute gems might come out of such a model.
Here’s the video to that brief but passionate speech:
If we keep asking for it, perhaps the Studios will adapt.
What upcoming sequels are you looking forward to? Have you seen anything recently you knew little about and were pleasantly surprised by? What classic have you bought a ticket for to see on the big screen? Let me know!
Welcome to Substack, look forward to your views and ideas about independent films! I love the lines "where we hold the power as audiences" as that gives us some hope!