Monday, March 27, 2006

Basic Instinct 2, Sequels

I don't follow movies as closely as I used to, but I was surprised to hear that this weekend, Basic Instinct 2 will be opening. Upon further research, I confirmed that the first movie was made in 1992, nearly 15 years ago! I don't like when sequels come out so far after the original. That got me thinking about other films. Long gaps like this aren't as uncommon as I had thought. Unfortunately it looks like the movies that come after the long gaps are rarely as good as the previous installments.

There were 8 years between installments of Bad Boys. The Terminator franchise had two big gaps - 7 years between 1 & 2, then 12 years between 2 & 3! Checking further, Godfather 3 came out sixteen years after Godfather 2. Likewise sixteen years passed between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. Ten years separated Get Shorty and Be Cool. Fourteen years passed between Predator 2 and Alien vs. Predator, (7 years between AVP and Alien Resurrection) although now it's more of a stretch to find the relationship.

Eight years passed between Fletch and Fletch Lives, the same amount of time as two other Chevy Chase movies, Christmas and Vegas Vacations. Eddie Murphy waited 7 years to make Beverly Hills Cop 3, and 8 years to make Another 48 Hours. Eleven years passed from The Mask to Son of the Mask. 1980's Blues Brothers had a sequel in 1998, aptly named, Blues Brothers 2000.

Kevin Smith's Clerks 2 will be due out 12 years after the original. If a fourth Indiana Jones feature were to happen, it would be eighteen years since the last one. It will be about 16 years if Rocky (as rumored) hits the screen again. Die Hard 4, also rumored, would be 11 years after the last installment.

By the way, Bambi got a direct-to-video sequel 64 years after the original. I guess the Basic Instinct gap shouldn't have surprised me.

I'm sure I've forgotten critical

Side note: While we're talking about Sharon Stone films, the movie "Slither" that opens this week keeps making me want to say "Sliver," the movie about the voyeur that Sharon Stone was in following the original Basic Instinct.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have no interest in seeing sharon stone naked at her age. there's a reason why women above a certain age have trouble getting roles in hollywood (which end up going to 20 something starlets).

PJ said...

Er? No mention of Sharon Stone doing a nude scene in the sequel? How did this escape Blogman's attention?

PJ said...

Exactly. That's why I find it so strange that this movie was even made! I suspect that the racy scenes in this movie will seem a little odd...as if Sharon Stone somehow forgot she is pushing 50.

Blogman said...

Well, I'm not going to judge anything re: Sharon Stone, age and appearance. I agree, it does seem strange that she is portraying a character noted for her appearance 15 years later.

Anonymous said...

I believe they had to make the sequel. When they made the first one they promised her they'd make one and when they didn't she threatened to sue.
http://www.cinema.com/news/item/7079/sharon-stone-to-star-in-basic-instinct-2.phtml

Blogman said...

Well apparently she sued to force the sequel's release. The sequel had been already made, it was just in limbo (probably because it was so bad). According to CNN.com they're hoping for second life in the home video market. It didn't do so well with the critics or in the box office (3.2M opening weekend, tied for 10th place).