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| Source: Universal Pictures |
There's no escaping it: 2017 is very much the year of the sequel. Whereas the more uppity of film fans or scholar will bemoan a lack of creativity in Hollywood being the reason for this trend becoming even more prevalent, and there is perhaps some weight to this, but there's still a lot of exciting, unoriginal stuff coming. There's action (John Wick 2, Fast 8), superhero hijinks (Logan, Thor: Ragnorak, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Justice League), dark comedy (Trainspotting 2) and a certain yet-to-be-named entry in everyone's favourite space saga.
But, not every movie deserves a sequel; hell, some movies shouldn't have been made at all, but still went on to kick off some iffy franchises. The fact remains that in the film business familiarity breeds bucks when it comes to churning out motion pictures and, on that long-standing logic, that's why movies have babies and sequels will forever be commonplace.
Familiarity also breeds contempt, so on that note this article looks to pinpoint exactly where sequel fatigue is going to set in this year, evidenced by ten upcoming movies on this list that are going to bomb, be it critically or financially.
Some will be relatively new entries in a series, others additions to a franchise way past its sell by date. One crucial element binding all of these together is that, in all honesty, we could do without them.
10. Amityville: The Awakening
Journeys to the big screen don’t get more nightmarish than the one Amityville: The Awakening has endured. Originally scheduled for an early 2015 release – at this point titled Amityville: The Lost Tapes – this release date has since bounced around like a pudgy, demonic pig with a tentative release penciled in for June 2017 – but, let’s face it, that could change.
The film has a decent cast, headed up by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bella Thorne, but with re-shoots having already taken place, it would seem that the intriguing found footage angle that The Lost Tapes promised has been replaced by something a bit more straight forward and dull.
Director Franck Khalfoun’s last film was the never seen i-Lived and his cold streak looks set to carry on given the less than emphatic press screenings that have already taken place. The horror.
9. The Nut Job 2
The Nut Job didn't exactly send everyone scampering to the multiplexes when it was released in 2014 and, given its low box office return - 120 million, paling in comparison to Big Hero 6's Baymax bashing 600 million of the same year - it's already one of 2017's most 'meh' sequels on the release slate.
Will Arnett and Katherine Heigel return on rodent vocal duties, along with new additions in Peter Stormare and Jackie Chan, who is set to play a mouse gang leader. The plot is hardly grandiose, revolving around Arnett's Surly trying to stop a local landmark being levelled in place of a new spiffy amusement park.
In a year where we're going to see the likes of Cars 3, Despicable Me 3 and Paddington 2 hitting the big screen, it's unlikely that once Surly and co have finished saving Oakton City (again), we'll be seeing a third Nut Job movie.
8. Smurfs: The Lost Village
We live in a post Trolls world now, so that means any nostalgia-baiting animated movie has to include a lot of jumping up and down, earworm song and dance numbers - preferably sung by members of the cast, who just so happen to be pop artists anyway - and a mega-selling soundtrack to boot. This kind of spells doom for Smurfs: The Lost Village, which, following the critical drubbing Smurfs 2 received, is being billed as a reboot of the franchise.
The Lost Village rejoins that famous blue gang and sees Smurfette on a mission to find her place in life, with a mean wizard chucked in for good measure. Demi Lovato and Rainn Wilson join the existing cast and Kelly Ashbury of Shrek 2 fame is on hand to direct, but let's face it, this one isn't going set the box office alight.
7. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
The last time we saw Milla Jovovich gunning her way through the undead was 2012's underwhelming Retribution, which despite not beating its predecessor at the box office - the even worse Afterlife - has been given one more chance out on screen.
The story picks up where we left off with Jovovich's Alice getting stitched up royally by Wesker, putting in motion one last battle against Umbrella's boo hiss baddies.
Wheres Retribution was given moderate praise for its popping 3D visuals, director Paul W. S. Anderson is clearly looking to recapture this success in The Final Chapter, but, with a plot that is barely connected to the video game series and a cardboard cutout apocalyptic setting, this movie will feel more like a run of the mill sci-fi romp than an interesting interpretation of, say, one of the more recent Resident Evil games in the series. Unless they reboot it, this is officially the franchise's last, thudding stand on screens
6. Annabelle 2
Annabelle did the business at the box office despite being something of a missed opportunity. Sure, we got plenty of creepy doll for our dollar, but her solo outing was pretty much just a haunted house yarn with a doll sat in a chair throughout.
There is hope that this quickly-put together sequel will quell the critics - Lights Out director David F. Sandberg is an impressive acquisition for the burgeoning franchise - but frustratingly that oh so familiar prequel route has been taken by Warner Bros, with the creation of Annabelle at the forefront and an orphanage full of terrified tykes setting the stage as her first proving ground.
All in all, an Annabelle standalone will never be scarier than those amazing first 15 minutes of The Conjuring, and with horror prequels never really hitting the mark in recent years - Exorcist: The Beginning, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, pretty much anything with 'beginning' in the title - there isn't much hope that we will see a third coming of Annabelle.
5. Saw: Legacy
It's been six years since the last Saw movie, presumably the length of time its taken studio Lionsgate to lick its paws following the poor box office returns of Saw: The Final Chapter. This time the franchise is being taken - you guessed it - back to the start.
Directing duo The Spierig Brothers are promising a shake up of the Saw formula, throwing everything at us from a new cast, new setting and a revamped score. But like any horror series, you can't give up on your boogeyman and, rightly so, Tobin Bell is back as the master puppeteer Jigsaw.
One other thing that won't change are the gore pieces that are already being teased in the film's brief promo, which is precisely what's going to get this film hacked to pieces. Saw fans have moved on, cinemagoers don't want to be repulsed anymore - they want to be terrified.
This is the very reason we're seeing a slew of spooky, traditional horrors doing the rounds - Blair Witch, The Conjuring, Lights Out - and horror cinema is all the better for it.
4. XXX: The Return Of Xander Cage
Riding on the wave of Vin Diesel’s breakout role in the likes of The Fast & The Furious and Pitch Black, XXX was a big, loud Mountain Dew commercial of a movie, which, although a hit at the box office, didn’t fair as well with critics.
Now, fifteen years since that release, XXX: The Return Of Xander Cage is upon us seeing Diesel back in his vest, going bumper to bumper with Donnie Yen in a race to claim something called Pandora’s Box. Although a lone gun in the first movie, this sequel sees the gruff stunt monkey pulling together a crew to reach the finish line, a la the Mission Impossible series.
While there is some hope in this long-coming sequel – Tony Jaa is on the cast list and director D. J. Caruso always puts together some striking visuals – this was never really the star vehicle that Diesel deserved and, given screenwriter Chad St. John (of London Has Fallen fame) has crafted the story and bleeding Neymar has a supporting role, the signs aren’t looking awesome for this one.
3. Fifty Shades Darker
Be under no illusion here: Fifty Shades Darker will rake it in at the box office - the original whipped in over $500 million worldwide - with the books already reappearing back on your local Tesco shelves and women across the globe positioned for a second outing of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey.
Where the film will fail, though, is in the quality of what's, erm, on show. The original coped on screen thanks to helmer Sam Taylor-Johnson making something slightly interesting out of source material where not a lot happens and, despite still popping the book's smash cut ending into procedures, she even kept some not au fait with the books entertained
But, with rumoured creative differences seeing her leave the project, James Foley has stepped out of TV gigs - House Of Cards, Billions - to craft what he has promised to be a more out and out thriller. This will not float well with the baying hordes out there wanting to see more S&M antics and a further exploration of one of literature's more messed up relationships. Darker could turn off a lot of its fans.
2. Blade Runner 2049
Probably the most controversial selection, even more so now that the good folks at Warner Bros. have released a well-received teaser trailer - an exercise in slow build up without really giving anything away. But this is precisely why we should be a bit worried about Blade Runner 2049.
Ridley Scott originally took Philip K Dick's source material, interpreted it in his own way and framed his version against some of the best futuristic visuals in cinematic history, but it seems that director Denis Villeneuve is going his own way. He is indeed taking the look of Scott's Blade Runner - although he's warned that the LA climate has gone a bit berserk - but is set on using these cyber punk landscapes as the backdrop for a whole different tale, where Ryan Gosling is the Andy slayer who just so happens to discover something BIG and needs the help of an old hand. Up steps Harrison Ford as a more grizzled Rick Deckard.
While Villeneuve has shown he can do subtle, menacing drama in the likes of Sicario and Arrival, and it's never a bad thing having Gosling and Ford paired up on screen, the story that's been outlined could be any old sci-fi yarn, just happening to take place under the Blade Runner banner. Original it isn't.
1. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Since the release of the first POTC movie the franchise has gone on to become synonymous of one where the quality of each entry is showing less swash, less buckle and a serious case of diminishing returns. But, my golly they don’t half bring in the booty – to put it in perspective, the superior original raked in £600 million at the box office, whereas the drawn out saga of 2011’s Stranger Tides cannon-blasted over a billion into Disney’s coffers - which is precisely why the Mouse House has seen fit to unleash a fifth movie on us all.
The signs are ominous for this one, with a plot that seems to be a retread of the original seeing Jack Sparrow go toe to toe with yet another undead crew, while at the same time hunting down another nautical MacGuffin in the Trident of Poseidon. Javier Bardem has been hauled in on bad guy duties, along with a return in Geoffrey Rush’s Captain Barbosa, Orlando Bloom as Will Turner (last seen sulking in purgatory) and, erm, Paul McCartney.
Let's face it, Stranger Tides was clutching to the already worn coat tails of a franchise running out of nautical miles, chuck in a six year gap in movies, a tired plot, a star (Depp) on the wane and it's not hard to fathom why this will be 2017's worst sequel.
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