Sequel Bits: 'Star Trek 4', 'Avatar 2', 'Bird Box', 'The Trip', 'Fantastic Beasts 3', 'xXx 4', 'Toy Story 4'
In this edition of Sequel Bits:
Star Trek 4 has reportedly been shelved in the wake of salary disputes and director S.J. Clarkson leaving to helm the Game of Thrones spin-off. Right now, it seems highly unlikely the film will ever happen. But John Cho has hope. The actor, who plays Sulu in the film series, recently told folks at the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Awards: "To be honest, it is not happening right now as far as I know, but I just think it will happen. Somebody at some point, we'll all get on the same page and we will do it...That's my belief. Maybe I am being optimistic...To me, it is just a significant part of American popular culture. I just don't see how it goes away forever." Maybe he's right!
After all these years, we're close to Avatar 2 than ever. Whether or not audiences will embrace the film the way they did the first one remains to be seen. For now, though, the folks involved with the movie are pumped. Producer Jon Landau offered an update on the sequel (via Comicbook.com) that makes it sound like all is going smoothly:
"We've completed our performance capture with Sam [Worthington] and Zoe [Saldana] and Stephen Lang and Cliff Curtis and Sigourney Weaver and a great group of young kids. We've been capturing not just on a stage but in a 500,000 gallon water tank, below the water, above the water. Jim [Cameron] has written into the scripts all of the stuff that people would expect from an Avatar sequel. A story that completes itself, an emotional journey in a world like you've never seen."
Avatar 2 finally opens December 18, 2020.
There is absolutely no reason for a Bird Box sequel, but we might get one anyway because the movie was such a hit for Netflix. What would a sequel even be about? One of the film's cast members has an idea. Rosa Salazar has a very small role in the movie as Lucy, a cop in training who survives the initial monster outbreak, only to then steal a car and leave the movie with her creep boyfriend Felix. This happens very early on in the movie, and these characters are never heard from again. Should a sequel happen, Salazar would like it to pick back up with these characters. "What if the whole movie these two were on acid, or mushrooms, and (survive) because they've altered their state of mind?" she theorized to the Los Angeles Times. "Then you have this story that's True Romance meets Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, only it's Fear and Loathing in Bird Box, and because they are so resourceful, this punk rock combo in love, they manage to make a life and survive." I guess this isn't such a terrible idea, but it would also be pretty cool if they never made a Bird Box sequel at all. Just saying.
Lunch with a friend to discuss The Trip To Greece... pic.twitter.com/dRwwtPSWE5
— Rob Brydon (@RobBrydon) January 16, 2019
The Trip series is wonderful, if you can handle three full movies of two men riffing non-stop. Personally, I love it, and I'm more than ready for a fourth film. And so are stars Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, as revealed by the pic above. The Trip to Greece will follow The Trip, The Trip to Italy and The Trip to Spain, and will presumably follow the same format: Brydon and Coogan drive around, eat delicious food, and do hilarious impressions. One can also assume that Michael Winterbottom will be back to direct. Bring it on, I say.
Fantastic Beasts 3 was set to begin production in July, but that's changed. The movie's start date has been bumped to the fall, according to Deadline. The reasoning? To better prepare. This makes sense when you look at the reaction to the previous film, The Crimes of Grindelwald. It still made money, but it had the lowest opening of any Harry Potter movie so far, and fans of the franchise seemed to be underwhelmed. With more prep time, Fantastic Beasts 3 might be able to iron out Grindelwald's mistakes. As Deadline says, "Warner Bros. executives now have a new approach of allowing big productions to brew as needed."
Vin Diesel took to Instagram to let us all know that xXx 4 is still happening. He also asked "Who would you like to see added to the xXx League?" The responses...weren't exactly kind, and I'm not going to repeat them here. It boils down to this: people seem more interested in making jokes than taking the highly artistic xXx film franchise seriously. Listen up, people: xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is a masterpiece, and I won't hear anything negative about it.
We may now know the full Toy Story 4 plot. SuperBroMovies claim to have the scoop, which involves the toys befriending Forky, the spork character seen in the marketing. Much like Buzz in the first movie, Forky doesn't think of himself as a toy. All the toys take Forky out on an adventure, where they eventually end up at a carnival. According to the report, "it's basically an existential crisis through the eyes of a toy and knowing Pixar it will likely be one to remember for years to come." Head over to SuperBroMovies for the full details.