Movies That Were Supposed to Be Sequels to Other Movies
These days, no matter how many Get Outs and Parasites we throw at them, Hollywood is reluctant to make any movie that isn’t part of a franchise. There was a time, however, when the bigwigs could be approached with a sequel idea and say, “Actually, that’s good enough to stand on its own.” They weren’t always right, but at least they could say it.
Die Hard
You might know that Die Hard is based on a book, 1979’s Nothing Lasts Forever, but did you know that it’s actually a sequel to 1966’s The Detective? That’s right: Die Hard is technically Die Hard 2. In fact, The Detective had already been adapted in 1968, and the star of that film, Frank Sinatra, had it written into his contract that he must be offered the starring role in any sequels. Fortunately, Die Hard was given the chance to develop as a standalone feature after Sinatra turned it down on account of being 70 years old, or we’d be living in a very different action movie climate.
The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino initially envisioned The Hateful Eight not just as a sequel to Django Unchained but as a book. He’d planned to write a novel called Django in White Hell that dropped Mr. Freeman in the middle of this octet of haters, but soon, “I (said) to myself, ‘You know what’s wrong with this piece? Django. Django’s got to go. This piece shouldn’t have a moral center. It shouldn’t have a hero.’” He probably also realized that no one wants to read a book by Quentin Tarantino.
Solace
Speaking of the number eight, 2015’s Solace was intended to be a sequel to Se7en called — wait for it — Ei8ht. It would have brought back Morgan Freeman’s Detective William Somerset and given him psychic powers (possibly eight of them?) to track down a serial killer who also has psychic powers. After David Fincher informed them that was dumb as hell, they reworked it with a psychic doctor played by Anthony Hopkins but failed to realize it was still dumb as hell.
Colombiana
Luc Besson had originally written 2011’s Colombiana as a sequel to Léon: The Professional, following up with Natalie Portman’s 12-year-old Mathilda 15 years later. He and director Olivier Megaton reworked the script into Colombiana, however, after they realized “we couldn’t do it because of the evolution of a lot of things – about Natalie, about (distributor) Gaumont.” Maybe because Portman found out the character was based on Besson’s own teenage lover. Who’s to say?
Minority Report
It’s hard to imagine anyone but Tom Cruise sprinting through Minority Report, but it was originally developed as a sequel to Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Douglas Quad. “But wait,” you say, nerdily, “Isn’t Minority Report just another story also by Philip K. Dick?” It sure is, ya big nerd. Writer Gary Goldman felt “there was something about the tone and driving narrative,” again, probably the shared author, “that made it seem perfect for a sequel,” but after they unexpectedly lost the rights, the studio decided to develop it as its own movie, which was probably good for Hollywood but bad for everyone who never got to experience the Cinema-Dick Universe.
