Over this last weekend, a highly anticipated, poorly reviewed sequel shot other movies down at the box office. Taken 2 took in close to $50 million beating the number 2 spot by nearly $25 million. Taken, released in 2008 starring Liam Neeson, was a smash hit according to some people. The flick was about an ex-CIA agent who travels to Europe to save his kidnapped daughter that was on a trip to Paris. According to some people, and my own personal views, the movie married suspense and action successfully. Liam Neeson is talented actor who was the right pick for the role.
I'm sure that I will miss someone's favorite, but other sequels that have done well in theaters have been:
The Star Wars Saga (6 movies)
Star Trek (storyline is films 2 thru 6; Star Trek Into Darkness scheduled to release May 2013 making it the 12th in the series)
The Twilight Saga (Breaking Dawn Part 2 to hit the theaters in Nov 2012 making it the fifth movie)
The Matrix (3 films total with an animated joiner between Reloaded and Revolutions)
Pirates of the Caribbean (currently 4 movies, #5 has been announced but no release date)
Harry Potter (8 films)
The Die Hard series (bad things happen to the same guy over time; Die Hard 5 coming in Feb 2013)
Rocky (Stallone's southpaw underdog inspiration to all - 6 movies)
Jurassic Park (3 films: The Lost World, the second in the series opened at over $70 million the first weekend, Jurrasic Park III opened at $50 million, but the sequels made less seperately than the first)
The Alien quadrilogy (4 flicks starring Sigourney Weaver)
The Lord of the Rings (3 epic films: The Hobbit, a LotR prequel by Peter Jackson is set to hit the theaters in December 2012)
Mission: Impossible (4 movies currently and talks of a 5th)
National Treasure (2 films currently with a third being talked about)
Back to the Future (3 films)
And those with stand alone sequels involving the same characters:
Indiana Jones (4 terrific adventure films)
The Mummy (3 films)
Friday the 13th (12 scary movies)
Nightmare on Elm Street (9 films)
Halloween (10 movies - the last 2 were remakes of the first 2)
Jaws (4 films)
The Robert Langdon series (you know them as The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. A third in the series called The Lost Symbol based on freemasons symbology has been announced but has not yet begun production)The list goes on and on, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Everyone agrees that some movies shouldn't have sequels: Lake Placid and Piranha, but that list is WAY too long to put on here.
Some movies have sequels, just to have them. To list a few: Scary Movie (Scary Movie 5 due to release April 2013), Paranormal Activity (Paranormal Activity 4 scheduled to release next week 19 October 2012, Police Academy (7 movies in the series), the National Lampoon movies (40ish movies bearing the National Lampoon name), Bring It On (5 movies), Step Up (4 movies).
As long as there is some director or some movie star sinking out of the spotlight, the bad sequels will continue to happen no matter how much anyone complains. Even negative attention is attention.
To get more on how much movies have made thus far and how your favorite films opened in the box office, visit www.boxofficemojo.com
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