Among the barrage of new movies hitting theaters this summer, in addition to the predictable remakes and sequels, several notable prequels to your favorite movies will also be hitting the big screen.
Prequels always have significant potential to emulate the success of their parent films, as they’re typically reserved to establish a chronology, or verify the legitimacy of characters and events from a successful film.
While a sequel is predicated directly upon the prior release, prequels are only required to arrive at the original movie by their completion. This allows the filmmakers more creativity, as they have an infinite number of ways of telling the backstory.
However, whether a sequel or prequel, the first requirement is a financially successful movie worth building upon. Hollywood is an industry like any other, in that it exists to make profit, and it is simply good business to revisit favorites, in one way or another, as this is nearly guaranteed money.
New movies are raw, unproven and therefore, may fail. You may want to keep this in mind while realizing the box office is, and will be, dominated by prequels, sequels, and remakes for the time to come.
In the following months many prequels will be released, spanning all genres. You may have recently been to the movies and saw “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” and been completely unaware it was a prequel rather than a remake.
Disney’s “Monsters University” will be released at the end June, and it is a greatly anticipated film, even if for a younger audience. The film will tell the story as to how Mike and Sully, the main characters of “Monsters Inc.,” became best friends while at college. Upon meeting they greatly disliked each other, and the film examines their journey towards being inseparable.
This August, “The Battle of Artemesia” was set to debut, however the title was changed to more accurately reflect the movie it is predating, and is now “300: Rise of an Empire.” Gerard Butler will not be returning, and the action will switch from the land to the sea. The Greeks must again stop Xerses, although this time he will be arriving with a fleet of Persian ships.
Finally, you may want to keep your eyes open for “Sin City: A Dame to Kill,” and “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” both set to release this fall and, you guessed it, prequels. The Desolation of Smaug is also interesting in that is not only a prequel, to the “Lord of the Rings,” but also a sequel, to “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”