​FILMS

the year of the sequel

The Year of the Sequel: It looks like 2015 will be the year of the sequel but hasn't this year been the year of the sequel too? Personally, I don't mind sequels because you reacquaint yourself with familiar characters and you know what you're expecting. On the negative side, you just wish that movie studios would show some courage and make something original but you can understand why they would be mainly interested in profits and sequels are supposed to deliver the goods.

Studio executives would be very worried considering that this year gave us only one movie, "Guardians of the Galaxy" that has crossed the $300 million mark. At the time of writing "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" is just below that figure but will pass it soon. Many sequels opened big this year but staggered to their final total. One wonders if movie piracy has finally defeated the cinema but that has been around for a while now, yet in recent years the box office smashes weren't as few as this year.

Have a look at the sequels that will be released next year. The US release dates are in brackets. Which movies will you be seeing? I will probably end up seeing about 80% of the sequels released in 2015:
- [REC] 4: Apocalypse (Jan 2)
- The Woman in Black 2 Angels of Death (Jan 2)
- Taken 3 (Jan 9)
- SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water (Feb 6)
- Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (Feb 20)
- The Second Best Exotic Marigold (Mar 6)
- Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (Mar 13)
- The Divergent Series: Insurgent (Mar 20)
- Furious 7 (Apr 3)
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (Apr 17)
- The Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1)
- Pitch Perfect 2 (May 15)
- Insidious: Chapter 3 (Jun 5)
- Jurassic World (Jun 12)
- The Transporter Legacy (Jun 19)
- Magic Mike XXL (Jul 1)
- Terminator: Genisys (Jul 1)
- Sinister 2 (Aug 21)
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon II (Aug 28)
- Hotel Transylvania 2 (Sep 25)
- London Has Fallen (Oct 2)
- Vacation (Oct 9)
- Spectre (Nov 6)
- Friday the 13th Sequel (Nov 13)
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (Nov 20)
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Dec 18)
- Mission Impossible V (Dec 25)

(Written on Friday 19th December, 2014)