When it comes to movies, there's sequels, squeakuels, and the almighty threequel, the
holy grail of movie follow-ups.
When a movie franchise hits a third installment, it begins to feel somewhat legendary, whether
that's warranted or not.
Among many fans, the simple fact that a franchise might be a "trilogy" suddenly makes a batch
of movies more interesting than they would've been otherwise.
But some movies, good or bad, just can't get over the threequel hump — like these poor,
orphaned franchises, for instance.
Director Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army was released in July 2008,
four years after the modestly successful original.
It also wasn't a monster hit, so Universal Pictures never commissioned a third installment.
Two years after Hellboy II was released, del Toro told Rotten Tomatoes he was interested
in potentially making another Hellboy movie.
Two years after that, star Ron Perlman donned his full Hellboy costume to visit a terminally
ill child.
That bit of kindness inspired del Toro to push for another film, telling Entertainment
Weekly:
"I can say publicly that now we are together in trying [to do Hellboy III]."
But nothing ever happened.
Perlman said if Hellboy III were to happen, it would need to be twice as big as the previous
two installments, which del Toro said would cost around $120 million to produce.
No studio was willing to put up that kind of money for a franchise that likely wouldn't
crack $500 million.
In January 2017, del Toro polled Twitter users on whether they wanted Hellboy III, got positive
feedback, then had a couple meetings about it.
But by February, it was all over.
Del Toro tweeted that
"100% the sequel will not happen.
And that is to be the final thing about it."
"Give it up, pal.
It's over.
I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Meanwhile, the lousy performance of the 2019 Hellboy film from director Neil Marshall and
star David Harbour is a further sign del Toro's trilogy isn't likely to ever finish.
In 2015, Sony Pictures suspended plans to continue the Andrew Garfield-led Amazing Spider-Man
franchise and instead opted to share the character with Marvel Studios.
Tom Holland took over as Spidey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a rebooted Spider-Man
film series.
But what were Sony's original plans?
Before the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014, Sony planned to launch an extended
Spider-Man franchise to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It was going to include two more Amazing Spider-Man films as well as spinoffs featuring Venom
and the group of villains known as the Sinister Six.
Sony also hired Lisa Joy Nolan to write a script for a female superhero movie set in
their Spider-Man universe, but nothing has come of it.
Plans for a Venom film moved forward, though, with an October 2018 release leading to surprisingly
robust box office results.
But Venom is its own thing, and there don't seem to be any plans to connect it back to
Spider-Man — the Andrew Garfield version or the Tom Holland version.
Unless some weird multiverse shenanigans go down, we'll never get Amazing Spider-Man 3.
What happened on page 47?
That question that has been plaguing National Treasure fans ever since National Treasure:
Book of Secrets came out in 2007.
The unnamed President of the United States, played by Bruce Greenwood, tells Nicolas Cage's
Ben Gates that when Gates reads the President's Book of Secrets, take a look at page 47.
Audiences never learned what was on the fateful page.
But considering that the book contains answers to mysteries like the JFK assassination and
the existence of Area 51, audiences can only imagine what puzzle the President needed Gates'
help with solving.
Despite negative reviews from critics, Book of Secrets was a financial success, earning
almost $460 million worldwide.
The success prompted Disney to commission a sequel the following year.
With the studio acquiring domain names for National Treasure 3 and 4, rumors began to
spread that the Mouse House was eyeing back-to-back sequels.
But director John Turtletaub said they were going to take their time and get the story
right before moving forward.
He told Canoe:
"...until we have a great story, a great adventure and a great piece of history to explore, there's
no point in making the movie."
In 2013, things were finally moving when Turteltaub told Collider they were about "halfway there,"
and that they were planning to start production in 2015.
But it still hasn't happened.
"Well, let me guess!
It's the wrong time!
It's the wrong place!
I'm wrong again!"
It took almost 30 years, but Disney finally released a sequel to the cult hit Tron.
Tron: Legacy released in 2010 to average critic reviews and modest box office success.
The film's writers, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, had already begun working on a script
for a third film before Legacy even released.
Ain't It Cool News reported that Disney was gearing up to announce Tron 3 — but the
announcement never happened.
A new writer was brought on board as Horowitz and Kitsis left to work on their ABC fantasy
series Once Upon a Time.
Rumors swirled that production might ramp up in October 2015, but unfortunately, Disney
decided not to move forward with Tron 3.
Original Tron star Bruce Boxleitner expressed disinterest in continuing the franchise, too,
after going through several production ups and downs.
But Legacy lead Garrett Hedlund believes there's a glimmer of hope.
He told ComicBook.com, quote, "I haven't been told it's totally dead," which admittedly
isn't the strongest vote of confidence.
"There's a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead."
He also suggested possibly continuing the series 30 years later, like Legacy did.
Five years after 28 Days Later hit theaters, the sequel 28 Weeks Later arrived, depicting
a NATO takeover of the U.K., supposedly quelling a zombie infestation.
Unfortunately, one person infected with the virus survived and spread it to the remaining
survivors.
At the end of the movie, some survivors escape England and make it to France.
One of those survivors was still a carrier, though, and the movie's cliffhanger showed
zombies running rampant in front of the Eiffel Tower.
28 Days Later director Danny Boyle indicated plans for a third installment were in the
works.
Unfortunately, screenwriter Alex Garland believed the rumored 28 Months Later movie wouldn't
happen due to copyright issues, saying:
"When we made 28 Days Later, the rights were frozen between a group of people who are no
longer talking to each other."
Boyle still wants to make a third movie, and he even has some ideas for what it would entail.
He has declined to share any of his ideas for fear of them popping up in The Walking
Dead, but Boyle and Garland are both up for making the third installment if the rights
hurdles can ever be cleared.
20th Century Fox's first Fantastic Four movie, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris
Evans, and Michael Chiklis as the titular heroes, released in 2005 to mixed reviews.
However, fan anticipation led Fantastic Four to become a box office success, earning over
three times its production budget.
Director Tim Story and the rest of the cast and crew all returned for the 2007 follow-up,
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
That one received mixed to negative reviews and performed slightly worse at the worldwide
box office.
Those mediocre box office results made Fox hesitant about immediately pursuing a sequel.
But there was hope — at least for a little while.
All five of the main cast members, including Julian McMahon, who played Doctor Doom, signed
three-picture deals.
They were also interested in making another movie and diving deeper into the Fantastic
Four mythos.
Although Story was keen to make two more films, Fox put an end to the series.
In 2008, Evans — who later famously became Captain America — said the franchise is,
quote, "a closed book."
"So I guess this is it.
We all go our separate ways."
Fox attempted to reboot the Fantastic Four in 2015, but the result was a badly received
film directed by Josh Trank.
These days, rumors are swirling about Marvel's First Family appearing in the MCU at some
point.
Just a few short months prior to Kill Bill hitting theaters, director Quentin Tarantino
and Miramax concluded that the four-hour film would have to be split into two releases.
Although they aren't his most commercially successful films, the two-part grindhouse
homage has become a cult hit in the years since.
The second film ends pretty definitively, with Bill dying and Beatrix and B.B. leaving
together.
However, Tarantino believes there's always room for more.
In 2004, he indicated plans to make a third Kill Bill with Uma Thurman reprising her role
as Beatrix Kiddo.
But Tarantino said he would probably wait around 15 years before making another one.
Tarantino said the story would potentially focus on, quote, "the revenge of two killers
whose arms and eye were hacked by Uma Thurman in the first stories," or a daughter's revenge
story.
But nothing ever came of either idea.
In 2012, Tarantino finally conceded it probably wouldn't happen.
And in February 2018, Thurman called Tarantino out for making her drive a car too fast while
filming, ultimately crashing and injuring herself.
Don't expect them to work together again any time soon.
"You and I have unfinished business."
"Baby, you ain't kiddin'.”
Romancing the Stone was the sleeper hit of 1984, thanks in no small part to stars Michael
Douglas and Kathleen Turner having instant on-screen chemistry.
Fox was so impressed it immediately rushed out a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile.
Although Nile did well at the box office, it was reportedly hell to make.
Den of Geek reports that neither Turner nor Douglas wanted to do the picture, and only
agreed after Fox threatened to take them to court for breach of contract.
But easy money is easy money, and it wasn't long before Douglas announced that a final
chapter, The Crimson Eagle, would soon be released.
IGN notes Douglas quit his role in 1997's U-571 to focus on it.
In 2008, the Telegraph reported a retitled version called Chasing the Monsoon was preparing
to shoot in India, with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones taking over from Kathleen Turner.
It would have been the first proper Hollywood and Bollywood co-production, had it not also
vanished into development hell.
By 2011, the talk was about a remake of the original, which in turn was replaced by a
TV series that also seems to have now dropped off the radar.
Zack Snyder was the driving force of the DCEU at the start, directing Man of Steel in 2013,
followed by Batman v Superman in 2016, before teaming up with Joss Whedon for 2017's half-dark,
half-goofy, all-flop Justice League.
After three critical maulings, plus worse-than-expected box office, DC canceled all remaining plans
for Snyder-fronted movies.
But according to Kevin Smith's Fatman Beyond podcast, Snyder was apparently planning a
whole Justice League trilogy.
Smith talked to many people involved with the planned trilogy.
He claims part two would have introduced the Green Lantern and intergalactic villain Darkseid,
who would have defeated the League, arrived on Earth, and killed a significant percentage
of its population.
Sound familiar?
Part three would have then seen the League regroup and return to Earth, finally defeating
Darkseid.
Speed was a sleeper hit in 1994.
The movie about a bus equipped with a bomb that would go off if it dipped below 50 miles
per hour set the box office alight and proving that Keanu Reeves was a bona fide action star.
It also seemed to prove that people really wanted to see vehicle-based action movies.
Well, that theory proved to have several holes in it after the debut of Speed 2: Cruise Control,
a movie about a bomb on perhaps the least exciting, least speedy of all vehicles, a
cruise ship.
The Keanu-less Speed 2 sank.
Speed wasn't originally planned as a trilogy, and despite Speed 2's dismal box office and
critical performance, it wasn't long before rumors began of Speed 3 began floating around.
As late as 2008, Den of Geek reported Reeves was set to return to the franchise, giving
it the sendoff it deserved.
Although a treatment made its way onto the internet, the proposed Speed capstone never
made it to production.
The young adult book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians is about a teenage boy who
discovers he has the powers of a demigod.
The movie series Percy Jackson is a cautious morality tale about what happens when a bunch
of producers discover they can make serious money ruining books for everyone.
The first Percy Jackson movie, The Lightning Thief, did well enough to warrant a sequel,
Sea of Monsters.
Although the second movie received a mixed critical response, a third installment was
still greenlit.
Nothing came of that film, titled The Titan's Curse.
As early as 2014, star Logan Lerman was saying he thought it was unlikely that the series
would ever be completed.
Lerman's now in his late twenties, so his Percy Jackson ship has probably sailed for
good.
After Disney acquired most of Fox's properties in 2019, the rights to the Percy Jackson book
series carried over to the company that also owns Marvel, Star Wars, and much, much more.
With Disney+ looking to make a major streaming splash, there's a chance we could see this
see the franchise rebooted as a rollicking TV series.
But a third film in this series?
Nah.
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