There’s an art to making a genuinely good sequel. But to reflexively dismiss follow-up films is to disregard the enormous potential they hold - in the right hands they can deepen the relationship we have with characters and the worlds they populate. It’s easy to feel cynical about sequels, since they often seem like cash-grab retreads of their inspiration. That’s how sequels come into existence - and this year we’re being bombarded by them, with new Sonic the Hedgehog and Fantastic Beasts installments already in theaters, and Top Gun 2, Hocus Pocus 2, another Jurassic World, another Downton Abbey, more Minions, more Thor, even more Marvel and D.C., and Avatar 2, among others, still to come.
The studio loves money, and they want more too.
