Sequel Bits: 'The Princess Diaries 3,' 'Glass,' 'Star Trek 4,' 'Avatar 2'
In today's edition of Sequel Bits:
Another long-awaited sequel finally happening is a follow-up to Unbreakable, which is also a continuation of Split. Glass is currently scheduled to come out January 18, 2019, with Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy, and Anya Taylor-Joy all returning. Shyamalan often looks to other artists, like author Elmore Leonard, when he's making a new film. The other day, he was watching Pulp Fiction and Don't Look Now for a little inspiration:
Been watching classic films at night to get inspired on #Glass. Last couple were Pulp Fiction & Don't Look Now. Masterpieces.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) July 30, 2017
If Shyamalan channels Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now for his sequel and we get a movie half as eerie, we're in for a treat.
Before the passing of filmmaker Gary Marshall, there were some discussions about making another Princess Diaries movie. The two films helped launch Anne Hathaway's career, and she was reportedly interested in returning to the series, as was Julie Andrews. Based on Meg Cabot's book series, both Disney films made over $300 million worldwide.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Cabot said they might make the movie to honor Gary Marshall:
Annie had an idea that she wanted to pursue about it, and I'm all for it, so if she'd like to. I am not allowed to say [what a third film would involve]. I would love to sit and talk about [it], but I can't. I'm not allowed. But it's really more following the movie than the books, so if she — the last version I read, she definitely did not find out that she has a biracial younger sister ... which I personally would've thought was hilarious, but that was not the direction they were going.
A script is currently being written for another Star Trek movie. There were four years between J.J. Abrams' reboot and Star Trek Into the Darkness, and a three-year between the Khan story and Star Trek Beyond, so these sequels aren't exactly rushed.
It's been said another sequel would bring back Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk, but if and when we'll see that happen, we don't know. One person still waiting for the greenlight is super Trek fan Karl Urban, who gave his best performance yet as Bones in Star Trek Beyond. Here's what Urban recently told ScreenRant:
I'll tell you if Paramount greenlights a fourth movie for us, I'll be there. I love working with those guys and you know the fans love those characters. Yeah. It'd be a blast.
One of the many reasons to want another Trek film, especially after how fun Star Trek Beyond was, is to see Urban back as the good doctor.
One sequel that's finally started shooting but remains a few years away is James Cameron's Avatar 2. Weta Digital is hard at work on the next four sequels, with the first one hitting theaters in 2020. Pandora was impressive on the big screen back in 2009, but 11 years later, it's easy to expect the world to grow more detailed, photo-real, and immersive.
In a statement to Variety, Cameron made it sound like they'll try to push the envelope further with the next Avatar film:
What [Weta's visual effects supervisor] Joe Letteri and Weta Digital bring to these stories is impossible to quantify. Since we made Avatar, Weta continued to prove themselves as doing the best CG animation, the most human, the most alive, the most photo-realistic effects in the world. And of course, that now means I can push them to take it even further.
Joe Letteri added:
Avatar is the ideal type of film for us. Jim's vision for the world of Pandora was always so much bigger than what we created for the first film. Helping him expand the language of cinema through new narratives set in such an expansive universe is the type of opportunity that rarely comes along twice. Projects like this allow everyone involved to push themselves to do their best work.