If it’s March, it’s Oscar month, and this year, a sequel (“Dune: Part Two”) is nominated for Best Picture. This doesn’t happen often, and it’s even rarer for a sequel to win that coveted award, with only two sequels having won Best Picture – do you know which? (Answers below).
Sometimes, however, Hollywood hits a home run with sequels to hit movies (“Back to the Future” and “Star Wars”). But they also strike out (“The Sting II”). Then, there are proposed sequels that never make it into production, such as the examples below. And if you believe these, I’ve got a script to sell you about a sequel to a landmark 1969 counterculture film featuring two bikers who take to the road again, but this time suffer from severe motion sickness – “Queasy Rider”:
Based on the success of a classic 1942 patriotic musical, MGM wanted its star to return in a comedy about a New England entrepreneur who attempts to start a business manufacturing sweet treats for pampered pooches. But the idea was scrapped when Jimmy Cagney refused to appear in “Yankee Poodle Candy.”
Although this 1946 film about returning World War II veterans won seven Academy Awards, RKO couldn’t convince the cast to reunite for a film where the men discovered how their lonely wives had formed a brewing club to promote their favorite brands. So, alas, we never got to see “The Best Beers of Our Wives.”
Alfred Hitchcock showed no interest in directing a sequel to his avian thriller, “The Birds,” despite Universal Pictures proposed catchy new title: “12 Angry Wren.”
Woody Allan failed to embrace suggestions from Orion Pictures to follow up one of his popular 80s comedies, this time featuring an aspiring hairdresser who practices on her siblings. So he declined to make “Hannah and Her Scissors.”
This drama sequel would have featured an eccentric high school English teacher with an aversion to using small grammatical phrases in the classroom. But “Rebel without a Clause” was never produced.
The plot for this Sci-Fi horror sequel focused on an infectious skin disease spreading through a city, causing its demented victims to wander the streets at night, driven crazy by the itchy lesions. But no one wanted to direct “Invasion of the Body Scratchers.”
Based on a 1945 John Wayne film, this sequel would have capitalized on modern reality shows and followed the mishaps of a group of ultra-thin contestants attempting to gain weight. But the Wayne estate was not impressed with the script for “They Were Expandable.”
In what would have been a tense psychological thriller, this sequel script called for a famous British actor to portray a gardener who believed his root vegetables were sending him psychopathic urges telepathically. But Anthony Hopkins had no interest in returning for “Silence of the Yams.”
Finally, speaking of plant-themed sequels, it’s hard to imagine the lack of enthusiasm for a historical biopic revealing that a city-wide shortage of exotic fruit was the real cause of the French Revolution. And yet, no one wanted to finance “Last Mango in Paris.”
(“The Godfather Part II” in 1974 and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in 2003).
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery and has written features, columns, and interviews for many newspapers and magazines. His hiking column describes short trails, hikes, and walks from around the country that seniors might enjoy while traveling. See www.ItsAWonderfulHike.com.