Something I am working on:
INTRODUCTION
"Familiarity breeds contempt."
--Some Guy This One Time
And so it begins, as so many things do (and must) with FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion. Released in May of 1991, just before the traditional onslaught of big budget action fodder (Point Break), treacly women's movies (Dying Young), remakes of Young Guns (Mobsters), and, er, sequels (Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear), the sequel to 1986's FX was not particularly a movie anyone was asking for. Yet it was made, yet it exists. The original film was not a bad film, nor was it a flop. It was one of those flicks that earns back its budget and then some, a "programmer" as it were. It starred two well-regarded actors (Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehey) and was a serviceable thriller in which a cop (Dennehey, who let's face facts was almost always a cop, unless he was playing floppy-shoe enthusiast and friend to small children John Wayne Gacy), and a special effects (or, titularly, "FX") technician teaming up to go after the mob. It didn't ask much of its audience, and provided some cheap thrills and laffs.
That said, nothing about the original filmed screamed out "Sequel!" (which, truth be told, would be a neat trick if it had, what with it being a non-sentient being). Movies that cost ten million and make twenty aren't usually thought of as franchise-starters. What happened was, in the nascent industry of the mid-eighties that was the video boom, the flick rented very well. Why wouldn't it? For two-fifty or so, you rented it, watched it (while drinking your Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler or whatever stereotypical eighties beverage you can name) and then returned it. It was one of those movies that had a huge life in the aftermarket of video and cable. It was never a massive hit, nor a cult classic. It was, simply put, a product that was felt to have exploitable elements.
So, five years ensued between FX and FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion. The second flick obtained a wide release theatrically. I am possibly talking out of my ass (again, a neat trick if it were only possible) but my guess is it was released mostly to "legitimize" it, to allow it separation from the straight-to-video dregs (movies with such "stars" as Michael "American Ninja" Dudikoff and Jan Michael Vincent). That way, when it left the theatres to make way for Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Hot Shots! it could really shine in its intended major market--home video. Where the real money was.
This little history lesson is here not (just) to make me look smart. I mention this little bit of movie minutiae because the story of FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion is as good an example as any as to why any movie gets made (certainly all sequels). To make money (I know, I know, I am really blowing the lid off the biggest secret in Hollywood--that movies are made to generate income). I would be hard-pressed to name a single sequel that was ever made for purely artistic intentions (with the possible exception of the fourth film in the Taboo porn series). That would include, yes, The Godfather Part Two as well as Sister Act 2: Back In the Habit (movies that, surprisingly, have little else in common).
I am not here to give you the lowdown on the history of sequels, or the top grossing sequels, or even the best or the worst sequels. If you are super-interested in the history of sequels (possibly because you're writing an essay for your "Modern Culture" class for Humanities credits) then by all means scour the internet (I am sure the ever-reliable Wikipedia will fill you in on that happy horseshit). I'm guessing the first ever official movie sequel is either, like, a Wizard Of Oz thing or a Tarzan movie. I don't know and don't care/am too lazy to check.
My aim here is true (sue me, Declan McManus). I plan to list a bunch of sequels and, for the most part, make fun of them, mocking them with smarmy cockiness. I would guess my mystification about the very existence of something like Aces: Iron Eagle III might be something other movie buffs may share. Use this missive as a way of commiserating with me about these flicks. Because, really, what is more fun than making mean comments about Meatballs Part II (or Meatballs III: Summer Job, or Meatballs 4 starring the remaining Corey)?
Each film will be given a few ratings/classifications. I will give each of them a 1-10 rating on overall necessity (with a low 1 for The Whole Ten Yards and a high 10 for The Empire Strikes Back) as well as a scale of 1-10 for quality (actually I was gonna use two different movies as an example, but the examples I gave for necessity will be sufficient).
Several of these reviews (if you can call them that) started life on a now (more or less) defunct website, where I ambitiously was going to post a new sequel twice a month (I think I managed three before masturbation and "Seinfeld" re-runs got the better of me).
I have tried to make as broad a selection of sequels as possible, but you will notice a surfeit of movies from the 1980s and 1990s, which were the decades where sequels became an increasingly present fixture on the weekly top ten movie grosses. There's possibly also a bit more horror films than any other genre, but that is likely due to the fact that if a horror movie is successful there will be a sequel. And a remake. But that is a subject for another book.
FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion, by the way, was the number one box office hit in the country on the week of its release.
INTRODUCTION
"Familiarity breeds contempt."
--Some Guy This One Time
And so it begins, as so many things do (and must) with FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion. Released in May of 1991, just before the traditional onslaught of big budget action fodder (Point Break), treacly women's movies (Dying Young), remakes of Young Guns (Mobsters), and, er, sequels (Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear), the sequel to 1986's FX was not particularly a movie anyone was asking for. Yet it was made, yet it exists. The original film was not a bad film, nor was it a flop. It was one of those flicks that earns back its budget and then some, a "programmer" as it were. It starred two well-regarded actors (Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehey) and was a serviceable thriller in which a cop (Dennehey, who let's face facts was almost always a cop, unless he was playing floppy-shoe enthusiast and friend to small children John Wayne Gacy), and a special effects (or, titularly, "FX") technician teaming up to go after the mob. It didn't ask much of its audience, and provided some cheap thrills and laffs.
That said, nothing about the original filmed screamed out "Sequel!" (which, truth be told, would be a neat trick if it had, what with it being a non-sentient being). Movies that cost ten million and make twenty aren't usually thought of as franchise-starters. What happened was, in the nascent industry of the mid-eighties that was the video boom, the flick rented very well. Why wouldn't it? For two-fifty or so, you rented it, watched it (while drinking your Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler or whatever stereotypical eighties beverage you can name) and then returned it. It was one of those movies that had a huge life in the aftermarket of video and cable. It was never a massive hit, nor a cult classic. It was, simply put, a product that was felt to have exploitable elements.
So, five years ensued between FX and FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion. The second flick obtained a wide release theatrically. I am possibly talking out of my ass (again, a neat trick if it were only possible) but my guess is it was released mostly to "legitimize" it, to allow it separation from the straight-to-video dregs (movies with such "stars" as Michael "American Ninja" Dudikoff and Jan Michael Vincent). That way, when it left the theatres to make way for Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Hot Shots! it could really shine in its intended major market--home video. Where the real money was.
This little history lesson is here not (just) to make me look smart. I mention this little bit of movie minutiae because the story of FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion is as good an example as any as to why any movie gets made (certainly all sequels). To make money (I know, I know, I am really blowing the lid off the biggest secret in Hollywood--that movies are made to generate income). I would be hard-pressed to name a single sequel that was ever made for purely artistic intentions (with the possible exception of the fourth film in the Taboo porn series). That would include, yes, The Godfather Part Two as well as Sister Act 2: Back In the Habit (movies that, surprisingly, have little else in common).
I am not here to give you the lowdown on the history of sequels, or the top grossing sequels, or even the best or the worst sequels. If you are super-interested in the history of sequels (possibly because you're writing an essay for your "Modern Culture" class for Humanities credits) then by all means scour the internet (I am sure the ever-reliable Wikipedia will fill you in on that happy horseshit). I'm guessing the first ever official movie sequel is either, like, a Wizard Of Oz thing or a Tarzan movie. I don't know and don't care/am too lazy to check.
My aim here is true (sue me, Declan McManus). I plan to list a bunch of sequels and, for the most part, make fun of them, mocking them with smarmy cockiness. I would guess my mystification about the very existence of something like Aces: Iron Eagle III might be something other movie buffs may share. Use this missive as a way of commiserating with me about these flicks. Because, really, what is more fun than making mean comments about Meatballs Part II (or Meatballs III: Summer Job, or Meatballs 4 starring the remaining Corey)?
Each film will be given a few ratings/classifications. I will give each of them a 1-10 rating on overall necessity (with a low 1 for The Whole Ten Yards and a high 10 for The Empire Strikes Back) as well as a scale of 1-10 for quality (actually I was gonna use two different movies as an example, but the examples I gave for necessity will be sufficient).
Several of these reviews (if you can call them that) started life on a now (more or less) defunct website, where I ambitiously was going to post a new sequel twice a month (I think I managed three before masturbation and "Seinfeld" re-runs got the better of me).
I have tried to make as broad a selection of sequels as possible, but you will notice a surfeit of movies from the 1980s and 1990s, which were the decades where sequels became an increasingly present fixture on the weekly top ten movie grosses. There's possibly also a bit more horror films than any other genre, but that is likely due to the fact that if a horror movie is successful there will be a sequel. And a remake. But that is a subject for another book.
FX2: The Deadly Art Of Illusion, by the way, was the number one box office hit in the country on the week of its release.