Over the past two decades, many a movie studio has experienced a case or two of sequelitis. The most obvious symptom of sequelitis is the production of sequels to many of the studio’s beloved classic films. The sequels started off taking the form of direct to home market releases, but as the disease progressed, some of the sequels began showing up in theaters. Though animation remains a favorite target of sequelitis, live-action films have succumbed to the disease as well. Is any film truly safe?
A sequel is not always a bad thing, even though very few movies actually need sequels. Toy Story told a complete and satisfying narrative that did not demand a continuation. But the sequel it got was a great movie, even better than the original. Even Star Wars (A New Hope) didn’t need a sequel. Had The Empire Strikes Back never been made, audiences could have assumed that the destruction of the Death Star turned the tide in the rebellion’s favor, taken what little they knew of Anakin Skywalker as fact, and gone on their merry ways. The few films that actually require a sequel because they do not tell a complete story on their own are usually sequels themselves, second films in a planned trilogy that started with a highly successful movie. Since a follow-up movie is a sure thing, the filmmakers can afford to leave viewers hanging, knowing that they will have a subsequent film to finish the story. Aside from these rare cases, most movies can stand alone.
So if very few movies need sequels, what sets “sequelitis” apart from legitimate attempts to continue the world and story of a film? The most obvious answer is “quality.” A legitimate sequel is usually made by the same creative team as the first film, stars the same voice actors, and is released in the same venue. The legitimacy of a sequel starts to drop as it deviates from the conditions under which the original was created. The original creative team is rarely on board, whether they are still alive or not. The animation may be done by an outside or overseas studio rather than the studio that animated the original film. The budget may shrink. Voice actors may be replaced. A sequel to a theatrically released movie may come out for the home market only. In the worst cases, the end result feels less like a continuation of the original movie and more like a cheap knock-off.
