4 Classic Childhood Movies That Got Suprising Stealth Sequels

4 Zootopia Is A Distant Sequel To Robin Hood, Agree The Film's Directors

Zootopia is a world of police brutality, incompetent unjust government, and Shakira playing a gazelle. It's a world in which predators and prey live together, in harmony, set in a large city where a small bunny wants to be a cop because she's been brainwashed by years of propaganda and a smart, conniving fox criminal who does it because, eh, it's what he can do (until the end when he becomes a cop too). It's a somewhat heavy movie as it attempts to deal with themes of race, gender roles, and prejudice in a big city, but it is also about a small baby-looking rodent making ice cream to sell to elephants with a fox. 

But it's not the first movie about a cop trying to chase after a wily fox in the Disney canon. Long before Zootopia, there was Robin Hood. And, it turns out, Zootopia is a sequel to it. 

It makes sense. Both are set in worlds of anthropomorphic animals that are near enough to humans that they've copied our very systems of government and leaders, and both deal with a rascal outwitting the local authorities until the current leader is deposed and then he becomes part of the very system he used to defy – a cop in one, son-in-law to the king in another. 

While Zootopia didn't go into production as Robin Hood 2, the creators love the idea so much that they've said to them it's canon. Can't wait for Zootopia 2, where it's revealed Nick and Robin come from the same line of ancient tricksters, and Nick's technically a European Prince. 

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3 Godzilla Vs Evangelion

Godzilla is the god-king Gojirra kaiju—a giant abomination of flesh that is vaguely lizard shape but also a nuclear bomb. The entire first movie was about the devastation caused by the nuclear bombings America did to Japan, and Japan's most recent live-action film, Shin Godzilla, is about the devastation the 3/11 tsunami did. Godzilla started as a horror film that evolved into an action hero who saves people from evil dinosaurs, shitty aliens, and weird pollution allegories. He was death and destruction and terror, and then he got slapped on enough t-shirts he just became cool. 

Fun!

Evangelion is a series about three barely pubescent kids who all get shoved into breathable liquid in the cockpits of giant monsters and are forced to fight against angels to save the planet. It turns out that everything is a lot weirder than that -- the robots are souls, the organization they're working for wants to end the world, one of them is a clone of another's mom, but he wants to bone the clone. The world ends after one of them jacks off to another in a hospital bed. It's a tragic, melodramatic, teenage story of life and death and horror. But it got slapped on enough candy, body pillows, toys, and video games that liking Evangelion isn't seen as a personality issue but just a fun thing.

So, of course, with two overly exploited horror stories, they would inevitably collide. And where better than Universal Studios Japan! Yes, there is a ride in Japan called Godzilla vs. Evangelion. There you can participate in a ride that shows you caught in a battle between the Evas (exploited child soldiers) and Godzilla (the horrors of nuclear war). After a while, though, as with all superhero showdowns, the two turn their attention to the real threat: King Ghidorah, an outside danger uniting the two. He represents ... Russia maybe, or like ... alcoholism. Something meaningful, probably. The meaning is then pounded into this lightning-breathing dragon by all the Evas and Godzilla who rip and tear this idiot apart.

This isn't a stand-alone either. As Shin Godzilla was being released, an entire line of Godzilla vs. Evangelion products was released, given that Shin Godzilla was directed by Evangelion's director. 

Half-Eva/half-Godzilla hybrids …

… MechaEvaGodzillas, and even a concert album all exist in this weird hybrid universe (and all of this on-sale immediately after leaving the ride). It's almost admirable that upon viewing two of the most horrifying stories of carnage, loss, and destruction, audiences went, "Ah, let's make 'em hug."

Tim Burton's Batman films redefined superhero movies. Before them, they were ... well, you don't really hear much about superhero films before him. There was the '66 Batman film, the '70s Superman, and that was it. Minus the random forgotten ones that no one can re-make because rights issues have tied up dozens of profitable characters in knots for years to come.

The reason you don't remember any of them is because they were nonsense films. Burton's Batman was the first superhero movie in the way we think of them today. The craze was wilder than the MCU's: people got tattoos, wore the merch, debated about everything, came up with rumors, etc. It was everything we associate with the weirder aspects of Reddit but before the internet existed, so less abhorrent. It was The Superhero Film of its time. And it's getting a sequel. Kinda.

First, a quick word on Justice League. In Justice League, the Flash's tale seems weaved around everyone else's, as he's a time traveler who may have made this timeline ... or maybe will end up saving it. That aspect of the Flash's character is coming back in his next film—because, believe it or not, the Justice League isn't the end of that particular story. There's another film, from IT director Andy Muschietti, featuring the Flash, possibly Batfleck, and for sure Michael Keaton's Batman. 

Because of the time travel stuff that Barry does, the new Flash film will involve parallel universes, other characters, and it looks like an adaption of Flashpoint. But one of the most significant changes is that in this new universe Barry creates, both Burton Batflicks are canon. That's right: Jack Napier, Danny Devito biting someone's nose off, and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman costume are all canon in this new film.

And don't get it twisted; it's not like the film will have a background news report about the Caped Crusader. Michael Keaton is back as Bruce and the Bat. The film might recreate scenes, is going to recreate Gotham, has the old batmobile, everything. Oh, and one other thing might be canon, too … if the poster below on the left is hinting at anything.

Justice League, Watchmen, Burtman. The next Flash is a sequel to a Burton film, two Snyder films, and is directed by a guy who took time off from making horror films to direct this. No wonder Keaton signed back on. This is going to be darker than Birdman. 

1 Pokémon: Detective Pikachu Is A Sequel To The First Pokémon Movie And Also To Home Alone

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is the film that includes all of your favorite things from childhood—Ryan Reynolds, car crashes, Pokémon, abandonment issues, evil executives, terrible CGI, parades -- It's got it all!

The film features a neo-futuristic town where Pokémon and humans live as one until Mewtwo is unleashed. He's been held in a tank far away, and after breaking free, he kills... sorry, it's completely slipped my mind, who is he again?

's dad is killed, it turns out, by Mewtwo, but double twist, this is actually the Mewtwo from the original Pokémon movie with Ash and Team Rocket, Mewtwo Strikes Back. It turns out he already learned humans and Pokémon could live in peace, and then some assholes decided to abduct him. Yes, there is a Ryan Reynolds starring sequel to the Pokémon film where Pikachu cries Ash back to life.

Don't pretend you're not shedding a tear.

But that's not the weirdest part. It's odd to think that the animated Pokémon film about the world ending because of Mewtwo was canon with this film (especially as it implies all the other Ash stories are canon, including the ones with god and time travel), but it's not as odd as realizing that John Hughes' canon is canon with this film. 

Yeah, see Home Alone features a film called Angels with Filthy Souls, that squeaky face Macaulay Culkin plays for the pizza delivery driver to ... scare him away and convince him a murderer lives in the house?

Honestly, the film should've ended right there, but luckily, the pizza driver got in a multi-car pile-up and died before he could report the incident. This is good because apparently, a few years later, the world was going to explode into insanity as Pokémon were discovered. See, Angels with Filthy Souls plays on a TV in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. That means Detective Pikachu is in the same universe as Home Alone! (So long as we ignore the director, who says it's just a gag and means nothing.)

Home Alone doesn't feature any Pokémon because, as Detective Pikachu confirms, there's no Pokémon allowed to roam in towns, and Kevin isn't a trainer; he's too young. And in a couple of years, he can leave home where he'll become a legal adult with all the hazards and hardship that entails. Now give us a prequel with Harry and Marv founding Team Rocket.

Tara Marie writes words at places like here, Panel X Panel, and the Hard Times. She also writes words for the Trailer Park Boys in Trailer Park Boys: Bagged and Boarded. You can tell her your favorite terrible movie at @TaraMarieWords or by pumping into her on an amtrak and just kinda blurting it.

Top Image: Walt Disney