Well-planned trilogies and intricately connected film "universes" have revolutionized the idea
of sequels.
Sequels are now highly anticipated and do quite well at the box office.
Some less successful franchises have a long history of keepin' on, however, providing
more content than anyone expected.
Here are some movies with way more sequels than you thought.
The Scorpion King
After two Indiana Jones-style adventures with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, the filmmakers
of the The Mummy movies realized that the true future of the franchise lay with Dwayne
Johnson, who had a supporting role in The Mummy Returns as Mathayus, the ancient scorpion
king.
And so came the third movie in the series, a prequel-slash-spinoff called The Scorpion
King.
It was a big hit, but Johnson bowed out of playing Mathayus again; the direct-to-DVD
prequel The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior starred an actor and model named Michael Copon.
Days of Our Lives veteran Victor Webster took over for the next two Scorpion King entries,
The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption and The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power.
He was joined by a few other up-and-comers, as well.
"I am Argomael, noble destroyer."
Air Bud
In 1997, Disney's Budverse started quietly with the theatrical release of Air Bud.
It's the charming and unlikely story of a golden retriever named Buddy that played basketball.
"Do you like basketball?"
It brought in a modest $23 million at the domestic box office off a $3 million budget,
so a year later dog-sports fans got Air Bud: Golden Receiver.
This time the pooch played football.
"You can play football?"
The movie fumbled at the box office with less than an $11 million domestic take, but Disney
turned to the direct-to-video circuit to keep the franchise going…and going.
In rapid succession, Buddy played soccer in Air Bud: World Pup, baseball in Air Bud: Seventh
Inning Fetch, and beach volleyball in Air Bud Spikes Back.
Then came the next generation: the "Buddies" movies focused on Buddy's puppies, who anchored
nine adventures to date.
They've done everything from battling supervillains to learning the true meaning of Christmas.
For those keeping count, that's 13 sequels.
Death Wish
This 1974 crime thriller starred Charles Bronson as a regular guy who lays waste to every street
thug he encounters.
It resonated with audiences, providing a romanticized "solution" to the danger and violence plaguing
city streets in the 1970s, but the inevitable Death Wish sequels turned into generic action
movies.
Charles Bronson would utter a quip, shoot a cartoonishly evil thug, and then repeat.
"Do you believe in Jesus?"
"Well, you're going to meet him."
Between 1982 and 1987, Cannon Films churned out Death Wish 2, Death Wish 3, and Death
Wish 4: The Crackdown.
The final entry in the increasingly irrelevant series was the fashion world-centered fourth
sequel Death Wish V: The Face of Death.
That came out in 1994, and the series laid low for awhile...until 2018, when it became
yet another reboot.
Anaconda
The 1997 movie Anaconda boasted way too good of a cast for the kind of movie it was.
Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Eric Stoltz played a documentary crew traveling
on the Amazon River terrorized by a gigantic jungle beast.
The movie was generic and poorly-reviewed…but it made $65 million at the box office, so
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid followed in 2004.
It was virtually the same movie as Anaconda, but with a group of researchers in Borneo
subbing in for the film crew in South America.
That one took in about half of the first movie's haul, so the series retreated to television.
Two made-for-TV sequels followed: Anaconda 3: Offspring in 2008 and Anacondas: Trail
of Blood in 2009.
The series' fourth sequel was a 2015 crossover with the similar '90s underwater creature
feature Lake Placid, cleverly titled Lake Placid vs. Anaconda.
American Pie
The main characters from American Pie got four whole movies and a complete plot arc:
Jim, Stifler, Michelle, and the rest went to college in American Pie 2, reunited for
American Wedding, and reunited again for American Reunion.
But its sequels don't end there.
Along the way, the "American Pie Presents" title has been used mainly as a way to brand
raunchy comedies, stuff like American Pie Presents: Band Camp and American Pie Presents:
Beta House, just to name a few.
Universal Soldier
Released in 1992, Universal Soldier was a fine entry in the line-up of Jean-Claude Van
Damme action movies.
In the slick science-fiction thriller, JCVD plays a fallen soldier who's revived as a
technologically-enhanced super trooper thanks to a top-secret military program.
Van Damme returned for three direct, theatrically-released sequels: Universal Soldier: The Return, Universal
Soldier: Regeneration, and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.
That's a lot, but there were even more in the form of two made-for-TV sequels made in
between the first two movies: Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier
III: Unfinished Business.
The Land Before Time
In 1988, The Land Before Time was a rare animated hit that wasn't a Disney movie.
It brought in a whopping $84 million worldwide because what's not to like, it's about a bunch
of cute dinosaurs who have big adventures in prehistoric times.
Kids always love dinosaurs, but as they outgrow their dino phase and grow up, there are always
more dino-cherishing kids coming up behind them.
Producers of The Land Before Time have obliged with an unrelenting number of sequels.
Between 1994 and 2007, 12 more Land Before Time movies hit home video, along with a reboot
movie in 2016.
Bring It On
The first Bring It On was an amusing, self-effacing comedy about competitive high school cheerleading.
Apparently there's a big demand out there for movies about high-stakes cheerleading,
because five more Bring It On movies have hit home video.
While the first starred Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union, the others, with titles like
Bring It On Again and Bring it On: In It to Win It, have starred actresses who were less
famous or just starting out.
The most recent iteration is called Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack and is about,
that's right, a high school cheerleading competition.
"Three two one bring it on."
The Pink Panther
The majority of The Pink Panther movies were directed by Blake Edwards and served as a
vehicle for British comic genius Peter Sellers, who disappeared into the lead role of the
clumsy and incompetent French detective Inspector Clouseau.
"There is much more going on here than meets the ear!"
The Edwards-Sellers team-up, along with an iconic score by Henry Mancini, and opening
animated sequences featuring the literal Pink Panther, led to frequent movie magic.
The pair made six Clouseau movies together.
After Sellers passed away in 1980, Edwards tried to reboot the series twice, once with
Roger Moore and once with future Oscar winner Roberto Benigni.
That doesn't even account for the rogue, non-Sellers Pink Panther movie from 1968 called Inspector
Clouseau, or, of course, the two rebooted Pink Panther films starring Steve Martin.
"I don't even own a mace."
Planet of the Apes
Everybody remembers the shocking twist ending of the first Planet of the Apes movie from
1968.
Not as many remember that for the first half of the 1970s, a new Planet of the Apes movie
hit theaters every summer like clockwork.
That's probably because they lacked classic moments like the ending of the first film,
or because Charlton Heston didn't return to ham it up.
"Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape."
Each of the four sequels also did worse at the box office than its predecessor did.
Add in Tim Burton's 2001 remake and the ongoing rebooted franchise, and you've got nine total
Planet of the Apes movies.
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