It is no question that Hollywood loves sequels by how it churns them out faster than a cookies 'n cream dessert flows out of a frozen yogurt dispenser. Thus, it is surprising how many often promised follow-ups blockbuster favorites there are, such as Edge of Tomorrow 2, that have yet to see the light of day.
The follow-up to Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt's action thriller (six years in the making, and counting) is just one of many sequels that Hollywood has really been taking its time on, for better or worse(?). This is what we know about that long-awaited sequel and seven others that we are inching closer each day to giving up hope on.
Edge Of Tomorrow 2
In an action-packed, sci-fi take on the Groundhog Day concept, 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise as a reluctant soldier in a war against alien invaders who finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. The same can be said about the long-awaited sequel, tentatively titled Live Die Repeat and Repeat, which has been living, dying, repeating countless times (with multiple script rewrites) since it was first announced in 2015. The most recent update on the matter came in the form of an Instagram post from Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman hinting that the sequel, which the filmmaker has claimed will “revolutionize how people make sequels,” is bound to be quite a complex thriller.
Avatar 2
When James Cameron’s ambitious 2009 sci-fi epic became the highest grossing film of all time, a sequel became inevitable, but nearly 11 years later, the follow-up(s) to Avatar are still far from finished. After multiple release date delays and two increases in sequel quantity, all four Avatar sequels shocked the world by starting principal photography simultaneously in 2017, but amid worldwide panic over the Coronavirus, production in New Zealand has been put on pause. As of now, Avatar 2’s December 17, 2021, release and the scheduled dates for the subsequent films have not been postponed, but this latest update has to be the craziest chapter yet in the franchise’s infamous development hell.
Kill Bill Vol. 3
Almost immediately after concluding his two-part revenge epic, Kill Bill, in 2004, Quentin Tarantino hinted at the possibility for a third volume of bloody escapades with Uma Thurman’s The Bride. However, after close to two decades of plot speculation from fans, QT’s conflicting confidence, and even unconfirmed details suggesting Zendaya playing a grown-up, vengeful Nikki Green that somehow found their way on IMDb, the odds for Kill Bill Vol. 3 do not look great. Tarantino claims Thurman is interested and that he has a road map for the franchise’s future, but this is also coming from the guy who promised a Vega Brothers prequel and his own take on Star Trek, so I am more willing bet that his tenth and (supposedly) final feature might end up being a whole new story, which we all know he can do with his eyes closed.
National Treasure 3
No films in Nicolas Cage’s extensive resume are as profitable as the National Treasure films, a pair of Indiana Jones-esque adventure tales for history buffs released in 2004 and 2007 respectively. One would assume that Disney would have been quick to break ground for a third treasure hunt, but the studio has really taken its time with it, asking for multiple rewrites, with Bad Boys 4 scribe Chris Bremner most recently being brought on to tackle National Treasure 3 according to THR. That is not to say that Disney has given it the green light just yet, but at least there is some semblance of hope that this treasure will not stay buried for too much longer.
World War Z 2
The 2013 adaptation of Max Brooks’ “oral history of the Zombie War” ended with Brad Pitt’s Gerry Lane inciting hope for an end of a global, cannibalistic pandemic with a potential cure, but after seven years, many have lost hope in seeing a continuation to the story. The sequel to World War Z had been plagued with a series of delays due to rotating screenwriters and directors, with Pitt’s Fight Club collaborator David Fincher attached at one point, before Paramount officially cancelled the project in February 2019. However, Jeremy Kleiner, a producer on the first film, has not given up on World War Z 2, so maybe we can call this just another snag in the process… or maybe not.
District 10
South African director Neill Blomkamp hit the ground running with his Academy Award-nominated feature-length debut, District 9, imagining a world in which extraterrestrial immigrants live on Earth in segregation from human beings, but anyone hoping to see (SPOILER ALERT) Prawn Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope) return to help reverse Wikus Van De Merwe’s (Sharlto Copley) alien mutation might have to wait a bit longer, or forever. Blomkamp has claimed to have an idea for a proper sequel, but in 2015 he voiced that he had just wrapped a thematic trilogy that began with District 9, was followed by Elysium, and ended with Chappie, prompting him to pursue projects outside of that world, such as the ill-fated plans for a retcon of the Alien franchise. The director has since gone back to making short films with his production company Oats Studios, with no plans for District 10 in the near future.
Beverly Hills Cop 4
After being teased, postponed, and reimagined since the mid-‘90s, Eddie Murphy promised in October 2019 that a fourth installment to his Beverly Hill Cop franchise, which debuted 1984, would be the next thing he shoots after he completes Coming 2 America, another long-awaited sequel to one of the comic actor’s biggest hits. Belgian filmmaking duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have been attached to helm Axel Foley’s return since 2017 and as far as we know, they still seem game to do it. From the looks of it, Beverly Hills Cop IV is poised to show up in your Netflix feed at whatever time the to-be-determined release date is officially set.
Triplets
Speaking of Eddie Murphy, since 2012 there has been talk of a sequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1988 Ivan Reitman-directed comedy Twins, in which he and his formerly estranged, fraternal sibling (played by Danny DeVito) discover they have another long lost brother… played by Eddie Murphy. Frozen star Josh Gad actually stepped in to write a script to the follow-up, called Triplets, and revealed over a Reddit AMA in 2015 that Universal put any further development of the project on hold, supposedly to “figure out if they want to do a sequel or not,” but in 2019, DeVito claimed that while all major players seem to be invested in the project, the search for a final script continues. That was the last word on this bizarre sequel that we have heard thus far, but I would say that we should not cut the cord on “hoping” for it just yet.
We would love to be able to predict the future and give you a definitive update how and when these sequels will make it to theaters, but until then, just keep your finger crossed. Be sure to check back for more updates on other Hollywood follow-ups here on CinemaBlend.
