Film franchises have found a way to keep their stories going, but what effects does it have on their previous films and the future of moviemaking?
A requel is when a film production company tries to reboot a franchise without completely resetting everything, resulting in a weird combination of a sequel and a reboot, hence the name; requel.
Movies like Jurassic Park: Domination or Halloween (2018) which are strong requels. These films feature cast members from the original film along with new characters working for a common goal. These types of films are received very differently. Some are immediately praised and loved by long-term fans and new incoming viewers alike, while others leave many disappointed with the newest entry in their favorite film franchise.
A great example of this new trend of film retelling is the summer blockbuster Twisters (2024), a requel to the beloved classic ‘90s thriller film Twister (1996).
This film follows the requel philosophy very well, it has new characters, a new but familiar story, yet keeps the same exciting feeling, and many other great requels follow this philosophy as well, the benefits of this is that these movies populate movie theaters, give the artist involved another chance to continue they’re favorite projects and give dedicated fans more of their favorite stories.
But this new trend might not be worth it, as we-ve already seen this effect with the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) which is sitting at a solid 30% on rotten tomatoes and features all of these tropes, yet missed the target audience by a mile. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was an instant classic that shocked many 70s moviegoers, is still beloved and celebrated today, so when it was announced that the film franchise would be returning with a new entry, fans were nothing less than excited.
But the 2022 film was a disappointment that misused the tropes awfully. The film brought back the original protagonist of the 1974 film, Sally Hardesty but killed her off too early and in a lame way. It tries to capitalize off of the younger generation’s slang and culture by making the new characters influencers, which failed horribly, Then there is the egregiously handled backstory for the new final girl, Lila.
Finally, there’s The Matrix: Resurrections, which was incredibly promising and if done right, could have been a great film. But that’s not what happened, instead, audiences got a mediocre film that didn’t make all that much sense and disappointed many fans of the series.
With movies like Beetleguese Beetleguese on the way, are requels actually a good idea?
