“Beetlejuice” was a box office hit in 1988, “Twister” in 1996, “Gladiator” in 2000. Now – in 2024 – the films are once again Hollywood’s beacons of hope. There is good money to be made with old material.
Hollywood is riding a wave of nostalgia – and looking far back. 28 years after “Twister”, the follow-up hit “Twisters” is now hitting the screens. “Gladiator 2” is coming to cinemas in November – after a 24-year break. “Beetlejuice” fans had to wait 36 years for the sequel to the horror comedy, now “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is set to premiere in September.
A year ago, the cinema landscape looked very different. The lurid satire “Barbie” and the drama “Oppenheimer” about the co-inventor of the atom bomb were completely new subjects in the spotlight. The neologism “Barbenheimer” made headlines in July when the contrasting films were released on the same day. As “Barbenheimer,” they caused a hype on social media and top box office receipts.
But originality is often in short supply in the summer cinema season. The big Hollywood studios like to play it safe with new versions and sequels of tried and tested material – currently from the ancient past.
“Twisters”
The disaster film “Twisters” has grossed around 240 million dollars worldwide since its release in mid-July, far more than expected. British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones wasn’t even born when Helen Hunt chased tornadoes with a tousled hairstyle in “Twister” (1996) 28 years ago.
Now the 26-year-old takes on the role of a young scientist and hurricane hunter, alongside Glen Powell, whose storm chaser character is not afraid of danger. New cast, new technology, but “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung is going for an old-school atmosphere.
“Gladiator 2”
In the original film “Gladiator” (2000), Russell Crowe played the celebrated gladiator Maximus, who kills his rival, the treacherous emperor’s son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), in a duel and ultimately dies himself. The hero’s death kept director Ridley Scott (86) from making a sequel for a long time – but now the story continues 24 years later with Lucius Verus, a nephew of Commodus.
For “Gladiator 2” (cinema release in November) he staged what is probably the biggest action scene of his career using modern computer technology and AI, Scott tells the film portal “Empire”. A trailer with spectacular fight scenes in the Roman Colosseum, with rhinoceros and ship battles, warms up the monumental film with stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal.
“Freaky Friday” sequel – “much freakier”
US actress Lindsay Lohan (38) and Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis (65) are back in front of the camera together for “Freaky Friday 2”. Fans will have to wait until 2025. In the 2003 Disney comedy, Curtis played psychotherapist Tess Coleman, who constantly argues with her teenage daughter Anna (Lohan). After eating magical fortune cookies, the two swap bodies and suddenly have to make their way in each other’s lives.
The sequel will be “a lot freakier than you’d expect,” Lohan joked in a TV interview. The actress, then still a teenager, now has a mother role with her own child. Everything else is still under wraps.
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” after 36 years
Red carpet for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”: Tim Burton’s star-studded sequel to the legendary “Beetlejuice” horror comedy from 1988 will celebrate its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival at the end of August.
Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton are now 36 years older, but there is no stopping them. Keaton (72) raved at the start of filming that it was “so damn fun” to improvise and invent things on set. He hadn’t had this much fun at work in a long time.
In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Keaton once again plays the poltergeist with the messy green hair. To the horror of Lydia Deetz (Ryder), he returns to her life.
In the original film, Ryder played young Lydia, who moves with her parents into a house whose residents died in a car accident. New additions include Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux.
From “Shrek 5” to “Sister Act 3”
Hollywood will also be drawing on the past in the future. With “Not Too Far, Far Away”, Dreamworks Studio announced “Shrek 5” for 2026 in July. The previous animated film “Shrek Forever After” about the gentle green ogre was released in 2010. Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona) and Eddie Murphy as the talkative donkey want to voice the English-language version again.
Whoopi Goldberg (68) has been campaigning for “Sister Act 3” for years, and now the time is almost here, the comedian said in an “ET” interview in June.
“Sister Act” was released in 1992 and tells the story of a nightclub singer who ends up in a convent – one of Oscar winner Goldberg’s most popular roles. “Sister Act 2” was released a year later.
Is Meryl Streep coming back as a bitchy fashion magazine boss? A sequel to the best-selling film adaptation “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) is said to be in the works at Disney, but details are under wraps.
The studio also intends to conjure up “Hocus Pocus 3”, as a sequel to the comedy about three witch sisters, first played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker in 1993. “Hocus Pocus 2” will be released in 2022 on the streaming service Disney+.
Back to the desert with “Priscilla”
Hollywood isn’t the only one to be nostalgic: Australian director Stephan Elliott (59) also wants to continue his LGBT cult film “Priscilla – Queen of the Desert” after 30 years. The shrill road movie about two drag queens and a transgender woman who tour the Australian outback in a bus named Priscilla premiered in Cannes in 1994 – and became a worldwide hit.
The cast from back then – Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving and Terence Stamp, now 86 years old – are said to be back on board. Elliott announced in April that he wants to start filming this year. He has a number of new characters in the script to appeal to a new generation.
Box office hit “Top Gun: Maverick”
Tom Cruise proved it with “Top Gun: Maverick” – fans remain loyal to old material. 36 years after the success of “Top Gun” (1986), he returned two years ago in the role of the breakneck pilot Pete Mitchell, aka Maverick, who is now preparing a young troop for a dangerous combat mission.
The action blockbuster was nominated for six Oscars and grossed almost $1.5 billion worldwide – the biggest box office success in the career of the now 62-year-old Tom Cruise.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
