20 Very Necessary Facts About Nostalgia Sequels

There are sequels, and then there are nostalgia sequels. Actually, contemporary pop culture is calling them “legacy sequels”, although this is still to be decided (we’re sure our own proposal – “late-capitalist anhedonia sequels” – will catch on any time now). In any case, legacy sequels have been all the rage in Hollywood, and our theory is that they’ve been given that name for one of the first, Tron: Legacy. Hence, we’ve been flooded with movies trying to revitalize dying, forgotten, or just already-finished franchises with sub-par efforts retroactively ruining everything. Seriously, remember Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Remember a less necessary and more insultingly bad movie than that? We know you lost interest in Jurassic Park very early on, Steven, but did you really have to do a bland sequel to the trilogy you actually put your heart in?

Alright, back to “dystopian-capitalist sequels (because we can no longer feel pleasure with anything original anymore)”, our other proposed name. So what is a legacy sequel? Well, they’re sequels that follow the original continuity, bring back original performers and creators, and are desperately trying to squeeze that sweet memberberry juice. That doesn’t mean there are no good legacy sequels, of course. But similarly, it also does not mean it is a clear-cut definition.

In this Pictofact, then, we’re just focusing on facts from unequivocal legacy sequels. Accordingly, we’re ignoring movies that came before the trend (Crystal Skull, Rambo, Rocky Balboa), that lack original cast members (Mad Max: Fury Road, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Texas Chainsaw Massacre), or that even function outside their original continuities (Spider-Man: No Way Home). And do these criteria work perfectly, then? Not really. Dominion is much more of a legacy sequel than Jurassic World, while inversely, The Force Awakens is much more of a legacy sequel than The Rise of Rey Star Wars. It is still a tricky, in-development concept, then, which also means we probably haven’t seen the worst yet. Steve Guttenberg-boasting Police Academy legacy sequel anyone? No? Whatever.