Comments on: 10 Things We’ve Learned From Failed Threequels

By: ljh

ljh — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:23:26 +0000

By: gaga

gaga — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:55:51 +0000

By: lucascott

lucascott — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:05:43 +0000

can't argue with you too much on any of those. the only one of the films you listed that I thought was half way decent was Karate Kid 3 and that was cause I loved the character of Mr Miyagi. He made the movie tolerable and at the least they didn't change him.

what is interesting is that the 3 sequels that do work are those that are part of a story designed to be 3 acts (or even more), like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter etc. it is like the structure from designing a longer story told in smaller pieces keeps them from jumping all over. note that does NOT include the Matrix which was actually one very successful movie shoehorned into a 3 part one for the money. and that's a sequel and 3quel that were horrid

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:15:00 +0000

child’s play 3. 4, 5, 6, basically everything after the first one

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:10:00 +0000

what a second I you saying that they were on THE Island. so that explains it. I wondered why the plot seemed like a repeat. it was. someone must have moved the frozen donkey wheel and they time shifted.but was this a flash forward or a flash back

By: themoviegoer

themoviegoer — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:34:37 +0000

Hey Doc -

” … three major villains … despite throwing 300% more villains …”

Oops! Two villains is 100% more, three villains is 200% more. Do the math!

Although, the thought of four villains …

By: Jody

Jody — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:19:05 +0000

Many of the franchises bombed on their sequel, let alone the third film.

Jurassic Park 3 was the best in the series because it was free from the shackles of attempting to follow a novel. It was vastly better than the appalling sequel.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:44:55 +0000

the only point of contintion that I have with this entire article, is that I LOVED the ewoks.

By: failsite

failsite — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:33:40 +0000

Hey dipshit, John Hughes, an originator of the Home Alone series, WAS involved in Home Alone 3, Writing, Producing… My god, what a fail. I'll read the rest now to find what other mistakes you make.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:16:00 +0000

I agree with you. I love Sam Neill, and while I enjoyed JP3 about as much as I enjoyed JP2, the movie itself just wasn’t as good. I blame that solely on Joe Johnston. I’m not saying Spielberg is batting 1000, he’s certainly had some duds. But overall, I think Spielberg would have made JP3 better visually, and emotionally

By: name

name — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:29:05 +0000

Rush Hour (1998)
Rush Hour 2 (2001)
Rush Hour 3 (2007)

There's some editing that needs to be done.
Rush Hour 3 came out nine years after the 1st, six years after the 2nd.

By: Reebee7

Reebee7 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Haha, for me the equation is

Lost World=No Neill

By: Davebaxter1989

Davebaxter1989 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:47:28 +0000

JP3 = No Goldblum = Worse than Lost World.

I could have said that more eloquently but I didn't.

By: Davebaxter1989

Davebaxter1989 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:47:28 +0000

JP3 = No Goldblum = Worse than Lost World.

I could have said that more eloquently but I didn't.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Re: Number 3.
I just saw filming this weekend in Washington Square Park for…. Step It Up 3D. After watching like 3 takes of one character popping bubbles by jabbing his fingers around towards the camera that they are stepping it up with the gimmicks.

By: Josh Radde

Josh Radde — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Saying one took place in Miami and one took place in LA is equivalent to saying “I vomited in the toilet….THEN I vomited in the sink.” At the end it’s stiiiiill vomit.

By: evosero

evosero — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Jurassic Park III was essentially a compilation of all unused scenes from the two Jurassic Park books. JP3 arguably was more similar to the novel The Lost World than the second movie was.

Also, Fast and Furious 3 (Tokyo Drift) took place in Japan, but had entirely different characters than the first two films, making it more a violator of rule 10, except that it was a better movie than 2 Fast 2 Furious. On that note, 2F2F also took place in Miami, after the first movie took place in LA.

Despite being the 4th in a franchise, the latest Fast and Furious was a huge violator of rule 5.

By: PhineusQButterfat

PhineusQButterfat — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:30:00 +0000

I have a theory about threequals:

First Film – establish characters and have an involved but safe plot to run through
Second Film – take established characters as far as you can through through more crazy and/or ridiculous circumstances, thusly ruining the setup of film one
Third Film – Realizing the 2nd film went to far, put characters in moderately crazy but familiar setting to restore balance because now you know how far you can go without going to far

This is true of the TMNT series and to some degree BTTF series and maybe even the Indiana Jones series, although only very slightly.
The films in this article’s list obviously did not learn the lesson between the second and third films of the series.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Seriously. They are great movies, but…the kid killed me. They are a pair of boozy, bickering married people. Who needs a damned kid around?

By: jeremy

jeremy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:03:00 +0000

brilliant writing.