Robert here again from The Country Fair and the Circus. I was just reading an article from Cinematical about Mike Myers writing Austin Powers 4 and it got me thinking...It used to be that part three was where franchises went to die. In fact, the "trilogy" is still looked upon with certain reverence because only a handful were planned solidly and done correctly without being killed off by the third (Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings, although that was bound by the books... still, you know what's coming...).
But in this era of the sequel, the third film is rarely the last film. Personally I blame quality second installments for the abundance of fourth installments. See the box office of any film in a series is directly proportional the the quality of the film that preceded it. A great part one means fans get all crazy about part two. Even if part two sucks, Hollywood takes the great returns as a sign that part three is needed. By this logic, a quality part two naturally leads to a fourth. But by that time the fans have reacted poorly the phoned-in third installment and part four limps through theaters without much notice. Is part four now where franchises go to die? Or is it where they go when they don't know they're already dead?
Sick and tired of the fourth parts? Just recently we've seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull flare fan's ire. Live Free or Die Hard failed to live up to the expectations of Die Hard: With a Vengeance (whatever that means). Rambo returned for a fourth time too.
But wait, we get to look forward to McG and Batman what's-his-name in Terminator Salvation, more cute kiddies dying in Final Destination 4, Austin Powers 4 (Austin meets the Love Guru?), more dinos swallowing cell phones in Jurassic Park IV, Shrek Goes Fourth (and the Puss in Boots spin-off), Mission: Impossible 4 trying to revive Tom Cruise's career, more cute kiddies dying in Scream 4, Resident Evil 4 (these have all been bad, but I have a soft spot for Milla Jovovich), Bronson Pinchot hopefully returning for Beverly Hills Cop IV, and proving my earlier theory correct: Spider-Man 4.
But perhaps I'm being too cruel to the part fours. This is just a natural phenomenon in the world of Hollywood. And while we all poo poo the lack of originality out there, we should be used to it. Still, is anyone looking forward to any of these?
