This year, 2011, itself a sequel of sorts in the long running, hit and miss franchise known as 'Time' (my favourite franchise, I've seen 33 of the series so far), will see the release of no less than a mind melting 27, count em, 27 sequels to existing franchises of varying quality. This beats the previous record in 2003 which saw 24 sequels, and digs up the question yet again of whether Hollywood has bottomed out in terms of creativity - or are they guilty of just plain cowardice and un-acceptance of the movie going public's intelligence and desire for something, y'know, new and different. Summer 2010 bucked the trend ever so slightly with Chris Nolan's Inception which was welcomely, an original idea and made bucket loads of cash but this year we don't have anything like that to look forward to. Just an endless parade of easily recognisable characters in slightly different situations and slightly bigger explosions with better whizz-bang effects. Are we just looking for the safety of the familiar as an audience when we visit the cinema? Or, will this familiarity eventually breed comtempt? Below is the list of this year's sequels to thin our wallets this year broken down using the dificult, and spelling challenged sequel naming appendage system;
SEQUEL Cars 2 Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules The Hangover Part II Happy Feet 2 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil Johnny English Reborn (!) Kung Fu Panda 2 Piranha 3DD (!) Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
THREE-QUEL Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (!) Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son Madeas Big Happy Family Paranormal Activity 3 Transformers: Dark of the Moon
FOUR-QUEL Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Scream 4 Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part One).
FIQUEL (catchier than Fifthquel) Fast Five Final Destination 5 Puss in Boots X-Men: First Class (a prequel, yes, but still the fifth X-Men movie)
SE7QUEL (it worked for Fincher)
The Muppets (special dispensation for this, They have a kind of movie diplomatic immunity) Rise of the Apes (yes another prequel) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two With 2012 shaping up to be a similar situation (15 on the sequel count so far) how many of these are you looking forward to, and how many will you actually go see? Remember, every buck earned gives each a good chance of being seen again, and again, and again, and again...........you get the idea.