It’s no secret that Hollywood loves sequels — but studios are also pretty quick to abandon franchises when they start running out of steam at the box office, so if a series can make it past three installments, it’s an achievement worth noticing. Of course, noticing and commending are two different things — but while we tend to be cynical about sequels, particularly later ones, not all fourth film chapters are created equal. In honor of Resident Evil: Afterlife‘s impending bow, we decided to dedicate this week’s column to some of our favorite (and not-so-favorite) third sequels. Direct-to-video titles were, as always, off limits, and we mostly ignored the many sequel-friendly (and drearily similar) horror franchises — but that still left plenty of films to choose from. From the maligned to the honored, from the wildly successful to the all-but-forgotten, it’s time to Total Recall…tetralogically!
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Get seven mercenaries together in the Wild West, load up their pistols, and you’ve got yourself countless stories to tell — and as long as they keep their hats on, it’s harder for audiences to tell that you’ve replaced the entire original cast.
Major Changes: Lee Van Cleef stars here as Chris Adams, taking over the lead role from Yul Brynner and George Kennedy. Other than that, this is fairly standard ridin’ and shootin’.
Does the Saga Continue? Not unless you count the short-lived Magnificent Seven series that ran on CBS during the late 1990s.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because once you’ve gotten people to line up for a movie about a Volkswagen Beetle that can think for itself, science pretty much demands that you keep on doing it until they lose interest.
Major Changes: Having traveled to Monte Carlo in the previous sequel, Herbie heads for Mexico, where he meets up with an irascible young pickpocket (named Paco, natch), foils a scheme to steal Incan treasure, and, uh, bullfights. Cloris Leachman, still six years away from scraping the barrel with The Facts of Life, appears, as does a clearly pained Harvey Korman.
Does the Saga Continue? Pretty much. Two years later, Herbie made his way to television via the quickly canceled Herbie the Matchmaker; then, in 2005, Lindsay Lohan got behind the wheel for Herbie: Fully Loaded.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because George Gaynes needed something to do on his Punky Brewster hiatus. Besides, the law clearly stated that Steve Guttenberg had to be in at least a dozen films in 1987.
Major Changes: For the fourth Academy, our bumbling officers are paired up with ordinary citizens through the Citizens on Patrol program (COP — get it?). Gaynes, regrettably, doesn’t appear in much of the movie, thanks to a gaggle of screen-hogging new recruits that include a young David Spade (and Sharon Stone, busily touring many of the worst films of the late 1980s).
Does the Saga Continue? Yes — for quite awhile, in fact. The series slowed down after 1989’s Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, but it resurfaced for a seventh installment with 1994’s Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, and a franchise reboot has been rumored for years.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Three reasons: 1) Sharks are always scary, 2) 1983’s Jaws 3-D grossed almost $90 million against an $18 million budget, and 3) Jaws 3-D was so bad that almost anything else had to be better. Enter this 1987 aquatic turkey, along with one of the most infamous taglines ever: “This time it’s personal.”
Major Changes: Pretending Jaws 3-D didn’t exist, Jaws: The Revenge returned the franchise’s focus to the Brody family, the shark-killing clan headed up by Roy Scheider in the first two films. Scheider disavowed the series after Jaws 2, so the story centered on his widow (Lorraine Gary, reprising her role) and her discovery that a shark is, uh, stalking her family. After enlisting a free-spirited pilot (Academy Award winner Michael Caine) to help her end the carnage once and for all, Ellen impales the great white…at which point it explodes.
Does the Saga Continue? Absolutely not. But in today’s reboot-crazy climate (and the renewed viability of creature features like Piranha 3D), it’s probably only a matter of time before the original oceanic baddie returns to reclaim its crown.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: It’s difficult to say, given that The Karate Kid Part III was disliked by critics, ignored by audiences, and mocked by the 1989 Golden Raspberry Awards, where it received five nominations (including Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Actor).
Major Changes: After Ralph Macchio decided he was finished playing Daniel-san (and director John G. Avildsen left the franchise to direct 8 Seconds), the studio opted for a fresh start, transplanting Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) from L.A. to Boston and giving him an angry teenage girl (Hilary Swank) to train. Also new: The Next Karate Kid‘s pitiful $15 million gross.
Does the Saga Continue? Sort of. After lying dormant for 16 years, the franchise was revived in early 2010 with a reboot starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan — and given that the new Karate Kid has earned almost $300 million, another sequel is already in the works.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because not even the garish silliness of 1983’s Richard Pryor-assisted Superman III was enough to kill the franchise. That would take the foul might of Superman IV‘s ludicrous villain, Nuclear Man.
Major Changes: Jon Cryer joins the cast as Lex Luthor’s teenage nephew Lenny, and Mariel Hemingway bats her eyes as the would-be Super seductress Lacy Warfield. But most importantly, there’s the well-intentioned (but woefully, woefully misguided) storyline, which finds Superman on a quest to rid the Earth of nuclear weapons.
Does the Saga Continue? This chunk of cinematic Kryptonite was enough to keep the franchise in suspended animation until 2006, when Brandon Routh donned the cape for Superman Returns…only to watch Warners put the Man of Steel back in development hell.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Even with a new Batman (Val Kilmer, taking over for Michael Keaton) and a decidedly mixed response from critics, 1995’s Batman Forever lived up to its title, besting Batman Returns‘ $266 million worldwide gross — so a fourth film was inevitable, even if it meant switching stars again.
Major Changes: Kilmer wasn’t available when Warner Bros. wanted to film Batman and Robin, so George Clooney donned the cowl and stood alongside Robin (a returning Chris O’Donnell) and Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone) against the menace of the diabolical Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).
Does the Saga Continue? Yes, but it took eight years and a whole bunch of false starts before the studio finally settled on Christopher Nolan to reboot the franchise with 2005’s Batman Begins. We think you’ll agree they chose wisely.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because after The Silence of the Lambs proved that Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter character was irresistible to movie audiences, he did the sensible thing and kept right on cranking out Lecter books for years — and the film adaptations kept coming too.
Major Changes: For the first time since 1986’s Manhunter (which we’re not counting here anyway), Lecter wasn’t played by Anthony Hopkins — because no matter how great an actor he is, he wasn’t the right guy to portray Lecter during his transformation from impressionable Lithuanian youth to murderous cannibal.
Does the Saga Continue? No, and it doesn’t seem likely that it will — at least not for another ten years or so, when some enterprising producer gets the itch to reboot the whole series.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: It really probably should have been, but the Death Wish movies were a modest cash cow for Cannon — 1985’s wonderfully over-the-top Death Wish 3 turned a profit despite its paltry $16 million gross.
Major Changes: Tireless vigilante Paul Kersey (Bronson) heads to L.A., because there’s a major drug problem, and he’s the only one man enough to wipe out the dealers. With grenades.
Does the Saga Continue? Sadly, yes. Bronson was somehow lured back to the franchise for 1994’s ghastly Death Wish V: The Face of Death, which ended up grossing less than $2 million during its brief theatrical run.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because throwing a bunch of B-list stars into an enclosed space and making them act out a ridiculous storyline never gets old. (Also: George Kennedy, who appeared as Renaissance man Joe Petroni in all of the Airport movies, had bills to pay.)
Major Changes: The Airport series started slipping into the realm of the bizarre with the Bermuda Triangle-set Airport ’77, but here it careens into sci-fi with a storyline involving a crazed arms dealer (Robert Wagner) trying to destroy a Concorde jet. Charo, Martha Raye, and Jimmie Walker are involved.
Does the Saga Continue? Did you read the words “Charo, Martha Raye, and Jimmie Walker”? Airport ’79 was the final nail in the franchise — as well as the disaster-movie fad of the ’70s, so ripe for parody at this point that the spoof Airplane! was a bigger hit (and a better film).
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because fast cars are awesome. It also didn’t hurt that the stars of the original (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster) reprised their roles, restoring continuity to a series that had undergone plenty of cast turnover.
Major Changes: There’s an important death that, ahem, fuels the plot, but other than that, this is not a franchise that values change. It’s fast and it’s furious — what else do you expect?
Does the Saga Continue? The fifth installment, currently titled Fast Five, is filming now with Diesel and Walker, as well as Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and Dwayne Johnson.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because when you’ve got a franchise big enough to support a head-scratching, time-traveling storyline, multiple studio deaths, and a short-lived TV spinoff, you don’t stop until your killer robots are completely out of juice. Plus, there’s that whole “$1.4 billion in worldwide box office” thing to consider.
Major Changes: Christian Bale stepped into the role of resistance leader/Chosen One John Connor, taking over for Nick Stahl (Terminator 3) and Edward Furlong (Terminator 2); Bryce Dallas Howard inherited the role of Kate Brewster Connor from Terminator 3‘s Claire Danes. But the most important addition was undoubtedly Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, the unwitting cyborg who helps Connor keep Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) alive long enough to head back in time…where he’ll become Connor’s father. Wait, what?
Does the Saga Continue? Not yet — another studio bankruptcy has postponed further development of the “new trilogy” that Salvation was supposed to begin — but we’re pretty sure the machines will rise again.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because after 20 years, the guilt of being responsible for 1988’s extraordinarily silly Rambo III was too much for Sylvester Stallone to bear.
Major Changes: Well, Rambo is 20 years older, for starters — and while the years have been kind to his sculpted physique, they’ve taken a brutal toll on his spiritual well-being. As Rambo begins, he’s basically a snarling hermit who yells at the missionary (Julie Benz) who asks him for a ferry ride into Burma. He eventually changes his mind, of course…and lays thrilling waste to dozens upon dozens of bad guys.
Does the Saga Continue? For awhile, it looked like Stallone was gearing up for a fifth installment — at one point, it was even rumored that Rambo would fight a genetically engineered super-beast — but his most recent statements seem to indicate that he’s done with the character. Of course, that doesn’t mean the franchise couldn’t be rebooted without him.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because when you’re dealing with a series of films about the soul of a psychotic killer inside a freaky-looking doll, the possibilities are endless. (Two words: Doll sex.)
Major Changes: The introduction of Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), the ding-a-ling whose undying love for the executed Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) drives her to stitch together the mangled Chucky doll in the hopes of bringing him back to life once and for all. Tiffany gets axed, naturally, only to find new life in the body of another doll, which leads to a kooky body-switching scheme involving Katherine Heigl. And doll sex.
Does the Saga Continue? Are you saying you haven’t seen 2004’s majestically insane Seed of Chucky? For shame.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because between 1968 and 1975, people were Apes crazy — the original film spawned multiple sequels, a short-lived television series, and even a Saturday morning cartoon. Talking apes! What could be more entertaining?
Major Changes: Conquest takes the series back to the beginning, sort of, with the culmination of a twisty, time-traveling storyline that’s far too involved to explain here. Suffice it to say that Caesar (Roddy McDowall), the child of civilized apes from the future, finds himself torn from his kindly master Armondo (Ricardo Montalban), made a slave, and subjected to torture — at which point he has no choice but to start the simian uprising that led to the events of the original Planet of the Apes.
Does the Saga Continue? It did, in fact, with the fifth film (1973’s Battle for the Planet of the Apes), as well as the aforementioned TV series and cartoon — not to mention Tim Burton’s reboot and the next in the series, Rise of the Apes, currently scheduled for a 2011 release. Clearly, we still love our talking apes.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because once the Italian Stallion whupped Mr. T in the ring, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do — including ending the Cold War with his fists. And anyway, Rocky III was the highest-grossing installment in the series to that point.
Major Changes: Continuing the theme established with Rocky III and the tragic death of his crusty trainer, Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), Rocky IV does away with Rocky’s longtime frenemy Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the first reel — via a charity match against the towering Soviet boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren). Also, Rocky grows a beard at one point.
Does the Saga Continue? Indeed. And although 1990’s Rocky V initially looked like a miserable end to a once-mighty film series, Sylvester Stallone brought Rocky out of retirement one more time for 2006’s Rocky Balboa, which restored a good deal of the franchise’s lost critical luster (and didn’t do too poorly at the box office, either).
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: The American box office totals for Lethal Weapon 3 were a slight step down from Lethal Weapon 2, but foreign grosses helped make it the most successful entry in the series by far — and even after a six-year break between sequels, there was still plenty of interest in the further adventures of LAPD Detectives Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover).
Major Changes: You can’t have a buddy cop sequel without an awesome villain, and wushu champion Jet Li — making his American film debut — added a new martial arts element to the franchise’s usual action thrills. But quips were always just as important as gunfights and explosions in the Lethal Weapon series, and to shore up the fourth installment’s comedic quotient, Chris Rock joined the cast as Murtaugh’s secret son-in-law (and fellow cop), Lee Butters.
Does the Saga Continue? Rumors of a fifth Lethal Weapon surface from time to time, but as of this writing, it appears Murtaugh really meant it the last time he vowed he was getting too old for this.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Everyone was pretty unhappy with the lackluster Alien 3, including Sigourney Weaver, who seemed an unlikely bet to return to the franchise — not least because her character, Ripley, killed herself at the end of the film. But thanks to Fox’s cajoling, and a Joss Whedon script that cloned sci-fi’s most tenacious heroine, Resurrection brought fans Ripley reborn.
Major Changes: Resurrection fast-forwards the Alien timeline by 200 years, and gives us a Ripley clone with hybrid human/alien blood. Also along for the sequel is Winona Ryder, who plays the mysterious mercenary known as Call.
Does the Saga Continue? Sort of, although as far as most fans are concerned, the Alien vs. Predator movies don’t really count (and aren’t worth remembering).
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Well, it isn’t like there’s any shortage of fairy tales to parody, or pop culture references to drop. And while their overall record has been rather uneven, DreamWorks Animation has always been able to count on Shrek movies delivering decent reviews and healthy box office returns.
Major Changes: This time around, Shrek falls prey to Rumpelstiltskin, who vows revenge after Shrek unwittingly ruins one of his cons. The resulting adventure mirrors It’s a Wonderful Life, with the newly domesticated Shrek wishing he could return to his former lifestyle — and the shifty Rumpelstiltskin only too happy to oblige.
Does the Saga Continue? Allegedly, no; the studio says Shrek Forever After will conclude the saga. But given that the franchise has grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide, that should probably be taken with an ogre-sized grain of salt.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because scum needed cleaning up — and because Harry Callahan had yet to utter the famous words “Go ahead, make my day.”
Major Changes: It’s a Dirty Harry movie, so not much changes, but the big difference for Sudden Impact is that Callahan’s exasperated captain exiles him to the fictional town of San Paulo (Santa Cruz in disguise), where he’s tasked with solving an unusually grisly murder. The major addition to the cast? A bulldog named Meathead.
Does the Saga Continue? Yes, but not for long: Clint Eastwood made his final Dirty Harry movie with the fifth installment in the franchise, 1988’s The Dead Pool.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because not only did the first three Star Wars movies define the intergalactic daydreams of a generation, they barely hinted at the possibilities of the huge story they told. As far back as the 1980s, George Lucas was rumored to be working on prequel and sequel trilogies, and when The Phantom Menace finally arrived in theaters in 1999, it was a true cinematic event.
Major Changes: Just about everything, really — where Return of the Jedi ended with the death of Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, The Phantom Menace backtracked to Anakin’s youth as a slave on Tatooine, and the adventures of young Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) with his Jedi mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). There was also this one goofy Gungan character, but the less meesa says about him, the better.
Does the Saga Continue? Most definitely — and although the Star Wars prequel trilogy never really captured the zeitgeist the same way the original films had, they all dominated the box office. Lucas now says he never intended to make a third trilogy, but you never know…
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: What else do you expect from George Romero?
Major Changes: All of the Dead films are only loosely related (with zombies, of course, being the main thing they have in common); 2005’s Land of the Dead, following 20 years after Day of the Dead, follows the tyranny and eventual destruction of the iron-fisted postapocalyptic warlord Paul Kaufman (Dennis Hopper, natch), who rules over the brutal class warfare in post-zombie Pittsburgh.
Does the Saga Continue? Like Romero’s zombies, the Dead series continues lumbering on; the sixth installment, Survival of the Dead, was released earlier this year.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because even after almost 20 years, people wouldn’t stop bugging Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford for more whip-cracking Indiana Jones adventures. And after a decade of duds, Ford needed a movie that would really take advantage of his way with a fedora and a snappy one-liner.
Major Changes: Young actor du jour Shia LaBeouf joined the cast as scrappy sidekick Mutt Williams, the son Indy never knew he had with old flame Marion Ravenwood (the long-missed Karen Allen). Leading up the bad guys was Cate Blanchett as Soviet agent Irina Spalko, whose quest for world domination leads the whole gang to Brazil…and an encounter with the supernatural.
Does the Saga Continue? Not yet, but Lucas and Ford say a fifth installment is in the works.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Like Harrison Ford with Indiana Jones, Bruce Willis will always be Detective John McClane to many filmgoers — and like Ford, Willis spent years answering questions about when he’d return to the franchise. The fact that the first three films grossed nearly $750 million worldwide didn’t hurt, either.
Major Changes: McClane is older and balder in this installment, which finds him trying to build a relationship with his hostile daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) while saving the world from a gang of hacker terrorists led by the nefarious Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) — and trading barbs with good guy hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long).
Does the Saga Continue? It hasn’t yet, but the wheels are in motion on a fifth Die Hard, currently being scripted by Skip Woods (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra).
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Have you ever seen a Trekkie going through sequel withdrawal? It isn’t pretty. And unlike many of the films on this list, Star Trek IV actually felt somewhat necessary, as it continued the larger story from Star Trek II and III.
Major Changes: Space might have been the final frontier, but by this point, it had lost a little of its novelty — hence a storyline that sent the Enterprise’s crew back in time on a quest to bring Earth’s whales back from extinction. (Dodos, alas, were not part of the mission.)
Does the Saga Continue? At 11 films and counting, the Star Trek series is still going strong — and the last Trek, 2009’s J.J. Abrams-directed reboot, reinvigorated the franchise after the lackluster 1990s.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because millions of Potter fans would have stormed the studio if Warner Bros. had decided to stop adapting the series partway through. More importantly, the Harry Potter movies make tons and tons of money.
Major Changes: It wouldn’t be a Harry Potter sequel without a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; this time around, it’s Alastor Moody (Brendan Gleeson), who — surprise! — may not be quite what he seems. On the storyline front, Goblet‘s main focus is the Triwizard Tournament, which pits competitors from three schools against one another for the titular prize.
Does the Saga Continue? Of course — in fact, the first half of the franchise’s final chapter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, will arrive in theaters this fall.
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Why Three Just Wasn’t Enough: Because even in 1965, the world knew James Bond was too suave for a measly trilogy.
Major Changes: Oh, the usual array of new gadgets (rocket belt, underwater jet pack/spear gun) and babes (Claudine Auger, Molly Peters). Bond has always been all about formula, not change — and it’s a formula that’s worked exceedingly well.
Does the Saga Continue? And how. The 23rd film in the series is currently in studio limbo due to MGM’s financial woes, but in Hollywood, Bond’s license to kill has come with a license to print money for nearly 50 years.
Take a look through the rest of our Total Recall archives. And don’t forget to check out the reviews for Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Finally, here’s an ode to the number four from one of its biggest fans — Leslie Feist:
