The concept of continuing a film through a television series is by no means a new or unique one. The Terminator, Blade and Highlander series’ of the past are just a few of the many examples of franchises that have made this jump. Indeed, even within the last year, television continuations to the Scream series and the film Source Code have been announced by MTV and CBS/ABC respectively.
Although in the past these series have so far been largely hit and miss, the increasing quality and budget in the television arena has made a continuation of films in this medium a more attractive idea. In this article I intend to explore other films that would work if they were to be continued on TV…
1. The Departed
The Departed was a 2006 crime film by Martin Scorsese that focused on the cat and mouse chase between a police informer in the Boston criminal underworld and a criminal informer in the police force. Without spoiling too much of this film it is fair to say that it has a clear and definite ending that doesn’t leave a lot of room for future sequels.
Nevertheless, following the success of the film, sequel plans started to arise with rumours being that a possible second film would focus on Mark Wahlberg’s character, Staff Sergeant Dignam, exposing corruption in city hall. While this may still make for an interesting film I can’t help but wonder how this might play out on television. I could see this potentially becoming a complex and intelligent crime thriller with multiple plot layers and characters, all anchored by the Dignam character.
A show of this nature could become a spiritual successor to the Wire as long as it avoided similar plot lines to season three of that show. Some recasting would probably be required, however, as I can’t see Mark Wahlberg committing to a television series at this time. If AMC were wondering how they could replace Breaking Bad after 2013 then this would not be a bad avenue to explore. Plus with 30 Rock ending next season, there’s a ready made character for him to reprise here.
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4 Comments
I was thinking about this recently too, specifically after watching Men In Black 3, which I thought was a fine way to end the franchise. I don’t want them to make a Men In Black 4, but it would be great if they moved it to TV, it seems absolutely perfectly suited to become a smart, satirical, witty live-action show. I know it already was a cartoon series, but I think MIB works better with real actors, alien make-up and puppetry and the odd CG creation.
Additionally, it’d make sense for them not to use Agents J and K, instead we could have a couple of other letters, and make reference to other agents here and there, if Will or Tommy fancied it they could even pop up in a cameo!
I think it’d have the broad, family popularity of Doctor Who but with a sharper sense of humour and an opportunity to really explore and play with the rich concept and world that details the films.
I honestly don’t know why this hasn’t been greenlit yet? Barry Sonnenfeld has done a fair bit of TV before too, so I’m sure he’d be up for helming the pilot… Or I’m free?!
I like everything but the ‘Final Destination’ suggestion. For me, the novelty of that movie wore off about 5 seconds into the second film lol.
That doesn’t make sense, though.
The 2nd movie is the best one.
I am dissapointed in your choice since it is mostly movies that are somewhat similar to existing tv shows. Why call another gritty cop drama Departed? What is the difference?
Again why make a Gladiator sequel when you already have/had 3 similar series. The only original choice is the matrix but it would be hard to make without a huge budget so it would have to be picked up by someone big.
Though mostly your article is the same crappy way of thinking that was hurting tv and cinema for a long time – lets take something already known because it is similar to that other thing people like and we have a show. How is that original?
Want a good tv show?
- The Road – great potential for a show that could be made cheaply and it could work in series format.
- Eastern Promices – it would still end up a crime drama but the setting is very nice.
- Ides of March – not superbly original but in the current political setting it could have worked as a series.
- Men who stare at goats – but played completely serious through the whole series.