I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about how Hollywood has become obsessed with the sequel. With under-performing films like Ghost Rider and Wanted being pursued for potential follow-ups, many movie-goers and even comic book fans have been left scratching their heads, asking themselves the all-important question, “WTF?”. But for action films with a built-in audience, where people will probably be willing to shell out an extra ten bucks to see the movie in IMAX 3-D, a sequel can make for a pretty compelling financial argument.

Studios spit out sequels with lucrative dreams of “success part two”, but the real goal, the real fantasy is to create that elusive cash cow of echoing triumph: The Franchise.

There have been plenty of articles written about the best film sequels ever made. There have even been articles about trilogies made with a level of aesthetic satisfaction that I couldn’t dream of equaling. That’s why I want to talk about something more elusive than the sequel, or the trilogy, or the myth of that geeky hot chick who will erupt with tears of joy after seeing the full scale Storm Trooper you keep in your bedroom. The quadrilogy, the true sign of the movie franchise, is about to experience an unexpected renaissance. We have already seen the fourth installment of two popular franchises this summer, Karate Kid and Shrek Forever After, and with plenty more in development it looks like studios are planning to up the ante on viewer recognition. Here’s what you can expect from current trilogies looking to expand into the realm of quaternary prosperity, and what trilogies need a new entry in their canon.

In Development

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Breaking Dawn

Mission: Impossible 4

X-Men: First Class

Mad Max: Fury Road

Spider-Man Reboot

The Bourne Legacy

Major League 4

Jurassic Park 4

All of these films are in different stages of development that range from post-production to straight up rumor. Resident Evil: Afterlife is wrapping up post-production as I write this and already has a September 10th release date. No doubt you have already seen the trailer that blatantly tries to capitalize on the 3-D success of Avatar. The action sequences look great, and I’ll probably end up seeing this one in theaters, if for no other reason than I’m a sucker for video game crossovers that aren’t completely unwatchable. Breaking Dawn, Mission: Impossible 4, X-Men: First Class, Mad Max: Fury Road, the Spider-Man Reboot, and The Bourne Legacy are all in pre-production and barring any sort of last minute emergencies, script rewrites, or actor shenanigans, they should all start filming within the next year.

Jurassic Park 4 has been a rumor in Hollywood pretty much since the first film in the franchise was released. I don’t think that anyone doubts the inevitability of a fourth film, but so far all we have had to go on are a couple of vague statements from rumored director Joe Johnston about how amazing and innovative the potential project would be.

Supposedly, there is already a script for Major League 4 that is only awaiting a gap in Charlie Sheen’s busy Two and a Half Men schedule to move forward with production. The real question is whether or not anyone is excited for this project considering the straight-to-video release of Major League: Back to the Minors.

In Need of Redemption

Ong-bak

The Matrix

Back To The Future

Blade

The Godfather

Ong-bak, The Matrix, Back To The Future, Blade, and The Godfather all represent classic films in their respective genres. The first entry for all of these trilogies met with financial, commercial, and critical success. These films all went on to include two more films in their franchises. Some, like Blade and The Godfather had sequels that were probably better than the original. Yet, they all ended at a third film, a third film that effectively ended the franchise. I would like to draw your attention to an elegant little graphic that I have included below, courtesy of danmeth.com. As you can clearly see these amazing films all tarnished their legacy by spreading their source material a little bit too thin. I don’t even want to get into Ong-bak because I still have night terrors about Ong-bak 2 and 3. All of these films need that fourth film to restore our faith in the greatness of the original film. All of these films need their Rocky 4 to erase the memory of their Rocky 3. All of these films need an epic fourth entry so that we can all purchase the unavoidable limited edition DVD box-set that will be released shortly after.

The Future of B

Re-Animator

Evil Dead

Shark Attack

The Ginderdead Man

Ginger Snaps

Troll

Darkman

B movies separate themselves from major releases in many ways. Whether it be the obvious financial constraints or the obliviously campy acting, it’s not too hard to pick out a B film after watching a couple minutes of footage. B movies live in the straight-to-DVD realm where profits are derived from fanboys who are looking for something that they couldn’t get at the local cinema. The golden ticket for any B movie is achieving cult status and one of the easiest ways of doing that is by releasing a sequel to a film that nobody asked for. Troll, for example, was small B release in 1986 that wasn’t particularly well received. The subsequent Troll 2 had nothing to do with trolls, it was about vegetarian goblins who converted humans into leafy blobs so that they could eat them, and it was so bad that it is commonly referred to as the Best Worst Movie. From there the “franchise” took on a life of its own, spawning a third film and the aforementioned documentary. There is even a rumor of a reboot slated for 2012. We would love to see a fourth Troll film, if only to see someone say, “Oh my Gooooooooood!“. Darkman , Ginger Snaps, The Ginderdead Man, Shark Attack, Evil Dead, and Re-Animator have all seen three installments and we can’t help but await the day that they all take the legendary step towards a fourth.

Please Continue

The Cube Trilogy

The Vengeance Trilogy

The Mexico Trilogy

The Transporter Trilogy

Rare is the film that has a sequel and a threequel that serve as worthy components of the original film’s legend. I’m sure I’ll get some disagreements about the inclusion of the Cube and Transporter trilogies, but try to take a step back and appreciate each set of films for what they are. Cube, Cube 2: Hypercube, and Cube Zero all offered unique perspectives on the original film’s creative genius. All three films were good in a different way, and that is an extremely rare feat for any trilogy.

How could anyone get sick of of Jason Statham kicking ass and driving around in the latest Audi? All three Transporter movies are essentially the exact same film and that is exactly why I want a fourth one. The Transporter series features some of the best action scenes ever, so how could I, as a self-respecting ninja, not want a fourth.

Robert Rodriguez’ Mexico trilogy, El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico were all written, directed, and produced by Rodriguez on the cheap and each film made more money than the last. They all feature a bunch of bad-ass Mexicans ripping up local bars with their arsenal of of guitar-case packing weaponry. Rodriguez recently announced a fourth film in his popular Spy Kids franchise so why shouldn’t his epic Mexico trilogy get a similar treatment.

As for the Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance trilogy, my justification for a fourth film lies in what is the greatest ax fight of all time. That is all.

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