What Ever Happened To Friday The 13th And Horror Sequels?
Over the last decade, many fan favorite horror films have been remade or rebooted to re-energize stagnate horror franchises to reintroduce a new generation of viewers to these properties. Of course, studios also want to make more money. One can look back to 1998's Bride of Chucky for which the film was packaged as a sequel, but with a seven year hiatus and a complete change in tone, this new movie clearly signaled that Bride of Chucky was indeed a reboot.
The film was successful in reinventing itself and went on to make Universal Pictures a huge profit. Unfortunately, the studio failed to capitalize on their horror hit as the direct follow-up Seed of Chucky was so bad, that Universal released the film under one of their smaller labels, Rogue. Do sequels to rebooted films have trouble being successful? Where do these franchises go once they have been re-introduced to the public.
Lets take a look at two horror remakes that were very successful, but avoided the sequel route. First, the movie that really kicked off the horror remake boom was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Platinum Dunes remake was a huge hit both financially and critically. To this day, Chainsaw is one of the few remakes that has received overall good reviews from the fans. Another remake that received great reviews was the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. In many ways, this writer feels that the newer film equals and surpasses the original. Dawn also opened to huge box office earnings and so began the long list of U.S. horror remakes to go along with the ever booming PG-13 Japanese remake business.
The real mystery, however, is where are all of the sequels to these rebooted or remade films? Very few times has a sequel been made to these jumpstarted franchises. Could the fear of financial failure be the driving force behind these sequels never seeing the light of day? Texas Chainsaw Massacre went the prequel route after its successful re-launch and a direct sequel was never made. Dawn of the Dead never opened a direct sequel, although many undead films have been made after it. Friday the 13th 2009 and A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010 never had direct sequels produced, although both franchises are in pre-production on new reboot/remake films. The only major horror film property to make a direct sequel to their dug-up franchise is Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
Zombie's Halloween 2 opened to modest numbers compared to his first Michael Myers venture and was even more critically panned than the remake itself.
So, with Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street in sequel limbo, will their next tales pay any homage to their predecessor? Probably not. Will horror reboots start slowing down as well and will their sequels be thrown by the wayside to accommodate whatever the next big trend in Hollywood?
Let us know what you think and would you prefer a direct sequel to Friday The 13th or more standalone films?
The film was successful in reinventing itself and went on to make Universal Pictures a huge profit. Unfortunately, the studio failed to capitalize on their horror hit as the direct follow-up Seed of Chucky was so bad, that Universal released the film under one of their smaller labels, Rogue. Do sequels to rebooted films have trouble being successful? Where do these franchises go once they have been re-introduced to the public.
Lets take a look at two horror remakes that were very successful, but avoided the sequel route. First, the movie that really kicked off the horror remake boom was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Platinum Dunes remake was a huge hit both financially and critically. To this day, Chainsaw is one of the few remakes that has received overall good reviews from the fans. Another remake that received great reviews was the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. In many ways, this writer feels that the newer film equals and surpasses the original. Dawn also opened to huge box office earnings and so began the long list of U.S. horror remakes to go along with the ever booming PG-13 Japanese remake business.
The real mystery, however, is where are all of the sequels to these rebooted or remade films? Very few times has a sequel been made to these jumpstarted franchises. Could the fear of financial failure be the driving force behind these sequels never seeing the light of day? Texas Chainsaw Massacre went the prequel route after its successful re-launch and a direct sequel was never made. Dawn of the Dead never opened a direct sequel, although many undead films have been made after it. Friday the 13th 2009 and A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010 never had direct sequels produced, although both franchises are in pre-production on new reboot/remake films. The only major horror film property to make a direct sequel to their dug-up franchise is Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
Zombie's Halloween 2 opened to modest numbers compared to his first Michael Myers venture and was even more critically panned than the remake itself.
So, with Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street in sequel limbo, will their next tales pay any homage to their predecessor? Probably not. Will horror reboots start slowing down as well and will their sequels be thrown by the wayside to accommodate whatever the next big trend in Hollywood?
Let us know what you think and would you prefer a direct sequel to Friday The 13th or more standalone films?
