The Legacy Sequel: Promises and Perils
Discussing the legacy sequel and my 3 categories of them, plus a newsletter update and a weekend streaming recommendation!
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THE LEGACY SEQUEL
Nostalgia is the new engine of Hollywood. For the past decade, the landscape has been blanketed by resurrections of long-dormant intellectual property. TOP GUN: MAVERICK, the sequel to the 1986 classic, is the perfect example, releasing next week.
A legacy sequel is a long-anticipated sequel that grapples with the original film’s impact, fan base, and legacy, while refreshing it for a new audience. It often arrives years or decades after the original film.
Are they necessarily bad? I don’t think so. Filmmakers have time and time again proven that they can produce a modern take on old stories and ideas. When these work, they work.
Unfortunately, however, far too many filmmakers and studios are willing to lean on the name of a once-famous franchise rather than produce something of value. It gets even worse when these movies rely on cheap crowd-pleasers, fan-service, and callbacks and cameos in lieu of real substance. Especially when this is driven by fear of upsetting the original film’s fanbase.
I’ve come up with 3 categories of legacy sequels: the surpasser, the overshadowed, and the misfire. I have an example to illustrate each one, coupled with a list of others that I think fit into that category:
THE MISFIRE: Jurassic World (2015)
Jurassic World is the perfect example of the misfire, a legacy sequel that monumentally flops when compared to the original. Jurassic World lacks all the charm of the original trilogy. It’s weaker visually, relying on CGI over the practical effects that made its predecessors so great. It loses the simplicity of the original story. It feels smeared by a big studio touch as opposed to Spielberg’s original authentic vision.
These are just a few of the contributing factors to the misfire. They may misjudge actual audience interest in a sequel. They may lose the charm of the time period that the original was made in. They may rely overwhelmingly on cameos and callbacks at the expense of storytelling. These are the sequels we forget.
Other Examples: Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021), Tron Legacy (2010), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
THE OVERSHADOWED: Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015)
This is the most common category of legacy sequels, and the hardest one to define. Whether a movie fits here will depend largely on your personal opinion of it. The Overshadowed sequel is a movie that is certainly decent, but is unable to break loose of the original’s influence.
These are oftentimes the ‘safe’ sequels, playing on all the right references, drumming up audience fervor, reminding audiences of their love for the source material. They may even surpass the originals in some aspects, like visual effects and action. However, they fail to produce anything new otherwise.
The Force Awakens is a great example of this category, reminding audiences of the power of Star Wars. Unfortunately, the story is an almost beat-for-beat remake of Star Wars: A New Hope. The movie seems to broach new ideas but stays comfortably in the orbit of its predecessors. It’s overall forgettable.
Other Examples: Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), Star Trek (2009), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Incredibles 2 (2018)
THE SURPASSER: Blade Runner: 2049 (2017)
The riskiest and rarest category, the surpassers are films that take inspiration from the originals but break out of their mold. They subvert expectations, producing characters and stories that can stand independent of their predecessors. Blade Runner: 2049 is my favorite example of this, a legacy sequel that thoroughly surpasses the original Blade Runner.
Unfortunately, these films can easily alienate lovers of the originals. Blade Runner: 2049 was notoriously a box office flop. In trying to do something different, the films can easily alienate core fans, who may expect more of the same. Regardless, these are the films that prove the value of legacy sequels.
Other Examples: Creed (2015), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Color Of Money (1986)
The legacy sequel shows no sign of stopping. Top Gun: Maverick is out next week, and Avatar 2: The Way of the Water releases in a few months. I’m cautiously optimistic about both, especially the latter, but there’s no way to know until they release. What do you think?
Weekend Streaming Recommendation:
Ozark (2017), Available on Netflix
A financial advisor drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder money to appease a drug boss. I’m binging this now for the first time and can’t get enough of it. I went in expecting a Breaking Bad carbon-copy but was thoroughly surprised. Check it out for crime, intrigue, suspense, and a crash course on how to launder money avoid a life of crime.
That’s all for today! See you all again next week. Until then, please get in touch if you have any thoughts or suggestions you’d like to share. If you want to keep up with what I’m watching, follow me on Letterboxd @atharv_gupta.
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