6. Push (Paul McGuigan, 2009)
Push centres around a group of people who, much like X-Men are people are born with certain powers. However in the Push universe there isn’t as much variation in the powers and you can only belong to a particular category of power set. You’re either a Mover (a basic telekinetic), a Watcher (a clairvoyant able to see the future), a Pusher (where you’re able to implant memories into people) or several others.
Chris Evans stars as Nick, a Mover who’s father was killed by the nefarious ‘Division’, a fraction of the U.S. government set up for the sole purpose if tracking those with special powers. He teams up with Dakota Fanning’s Cassie, a Watcher, to stop Division. The only problem being that Cassie can see both their deaths. The film ends on the very precipice of a cliffhanger, begging for a follow up.
A glossed over gem, with Chris Evans popularity continuously on the rise and the plot left dangling, a sequel could be amazing. However with a basic story the original was not well received by critics with generally negative reviews. Although in the current multitude of superhero movies being released it would be interesting to see something more minimalistic on a lower budget.
A prequel comic book was published by Wildstorm, and imprint of DC Comics. Therefore the film could technically be seen as a DC property and could subsequently be the push DC need to get back in the game with a more ‘back to basics’ approach to story and filmmaking.
7. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)
Bridesmaids was the smash comedy hit of 2009. A truly hilarious picture which exceeded expectations. The film centres around the down-on-her-luck Annie (Kristen Wiig), who is asked to be the maid of honour for her highly successful friend Lillian (Maya Rudolf).
Though both the performances from these actresses were great it was truly Melissa McCarthy who delivered her a breakout performance. In fact McCarthy’s performance led to her being nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress. The script was also nominated for best original screenplay, almost unprecedented for a comedy.
Both McCarthy and Wiig were recently reunited under director Paul Feig for his reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise. Feig came under a lot of flack for rebooting the film with an all female cast. The strangest thing however is that most of this only happened from watching early trailers and not seeing the film in it’s entirety.
The film proved this wrong by receiving mainly positive reviews from critics with McCarthy and Wiig particularly being praised for their performances.
Both producer Judd Apatow and director Paul Feig have displayed interest in a sequel to Bridesmaids. There are so many great characters that there’s literally unlimited possibilities about where you could take them.
It’s very rare that any comedy film would receive this much praise and not receive a follow up. There are so many bad comedy sequels made for a quick money grab. When Grown Ups 2 is a thing why is Bridesmaids 2 not?
8. Watchmen (Zach Snyder, 2009)
Zach Snyder’s first attempt at a superhero outing, directing a sequel would give him a chance to redeem himself after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Zach Snyder 2016). Watchmen is set in an alternate history where superheroes have been outlawed by the government.
The films open in the cold war at the height of tensions between the Americans and Russians. Whilst this is happening one of the oldest superheroes, The Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan) is murdered in his home. This leads Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) to investigate a series of murders in the superhero community.
Technically this would have to be a prequel as the film came to a very definitive end with no real chance of continuing the story. However, it could be told in a non-linear sense through flashbacks with the characters remising on their past heroisms.
Recently several authors have released a series of singular prequels for one or more characters entitles Before Watchmen. Alan Moore himself said that he did once consider writing a prequel to the original book entitled Minutemen.
It has also been implied that during the DC comics event Rebirth that Dr. Manhattan maybe responsible for several of the occurring events. This means that a Watchmen prequel or sequel could be set in the DC comics extended universe. They’re trying desperately to catch up with the marvel slate of characters why not add in characters they already have a film for.
9. Big Hero 6 (Don Hall, Chris Williams, 2014)
Big Hero Six is Disney film based on the Marvel comic book of the same name. Unfortunately it’s not actual part of the Marvel Cinematic universe, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t brilliant. The film centres around Hiro (Ryan Potter) the main ‘hero’, his four friends and one huggable robot. They in turn form the titular Big Hero 6.
Defiantly one of the funniest of all the Marvel and Disney films. Baymax (Scott Adsit), the robot, is literally one of the funniest characters from the last decade. Due to the fact it’s baed on a comic book property there’s a multitude of stories that could be adapted into a sequel.
It was recently announced that Big Hero 6 will have a continuation of the story in the form of a Disney channel show which will be set directly after the events of the film. However, this doesn’t mean a sequel film won’t happen. This has been the case with many Disney films such as Lilo & Stich (Den Deblois, Chris Sanders 2002).
Just because there’s a disney TV doesn’t mean a sequel won’t be made. Both the directors have said they would like to do a sequel so hopefully that will start development soon.
10. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
Forrest Gump is the epic tale that tracks the life of titular characters as he somehow ends up in seemingly every significant event in American history. Gump (Tom Hanks) is slow-witted but overwhelmingly kind in nature.
To attempt to explain the plot would be redundant as some much happens in this decade-spanning tale. It’s a heartwarming story that is both a critical examination and celebration of American culture.
There is a sequel to the original book chronicling Forrest’s adventures through the 80’s. The book was written by the author after he was surprised and impressed about the popularity of the film. He was not the only one as Forrest Gump went on to win six Oscars, being nominated for seven more.
The sequel book is entitled Gump and Co. The book deals with Forrest’s rise to fame after the release of the film. The opening line is Forrest telling the audience “Don’t never let nobody make a movie of your life’s story”.
The book actually has a scene where Forrest meets Tom Hanks. In fact there are so many great new pop culture events in the screenplay. In Eric Roth’s draft Forrest ends up in the back of OJ Simpson’s white Bronco. While the sequel script was written in 2001, after 9/11 Roth and Hanks both no longer felt that the story was relevant to the state of American culture.
Author Bio: George is a freelance filmmaker and student at Southampton Solent University studying Film. He’s an avid screenwriter and director. He loves mainly contemporary cinema, especially the films of Christopher Nolan.