It's hard to make a horror movie sequel that lives up to the original, but that hasn't stopped plenty of filmmakers from trying. These frightening follow-ups to fan-favorite flicks are currently in development.
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00:00It's hard to make a horror movie sequel that lives up to the original, but that hasn't
00:05stopped plenty of filmmakers from trying.
00:07These frightening follow-ups to fan-favorite flicks are currently in development.
00:12A sequel to the 2005 movie Constantine doesn't seem like something that would go into production
00:17nowadays.
00:18Even though the Keanu Reeves-starring adaptation of DC Vertigo's Hellblazer comics has a cult
00:23following, it was never a huge hit.
00:25While Warner Bros. has gone through five different corporate regimes and a gazillion different
00:29plans for its DC movies over the past two decades.
00:32"...but I could use a little attention.
00:38Please."
00:40Reeves and director Francis Lawrence's desire for a sequel, which Lawrence wants to push
00:45into even scarier directions, may very well pay off.
00:48WB officially announced development on Constantine II in September 2022, with Akiva Goldsman
00:55working on the script.
00:56Despite the studio bringing in James Gunn to completely reboot its main DC movie slate
01:01just a few months later, Lawrence confirmed that these plans would not affect Constantine
01:05II, which may possibly be released as an Elseworlds movie outside the standard DC continuity.
01:13Film distribution company A24 is no stranger to success in the horror genre, but Talk to
01:18Me was a true breakout smash.
01:21The Philippo Brothers' Supernatural fright fast-grossed $92.2 million on a $4.5 million
01:28budget, more than any other horror movie released by the label, unless you consider Civil War
01:32a horror movie.
01:34A sequel, tentatively titled Talk to Me, was revealed to be in development just a couple
01:39of weeks after the first film's theatrical release in summer 2023.
01:43While fans wait for more news on the sequel, a prequel could potentially arrive any day
01:48now.
01:49Before Talk to Me even hit theaters, the Philippos had already shot an entire film about Duckett,
01:54one of the victims in the first film's opening scene.
01:57However, Danny Philippo seemed uncertain whether or not this social-media-focused prequel would
02:03actually see the light of day, telling The Hollywood Reporter,
02:06"...maybe down the line we can release that."
02:08If they've shot the whole thing already, and A24 wants to build Talk to Me into a full
02:13series, it would be a strange move to not release the already-filmed movie.
02:18Moviegoers could expect a new Final Destination movie in theaters every few years during the
02:232000s, each with a new crop of high school or college students trying and failing to
02:28outrun death itself before being killed in creatively over-the-top scenarios.
02:33But then the series came to a standstill after Final Destination 5 in 2011.
02:38Actor Tony Todd claimed that the producers planned to shoot the sixth and seventh films
02:42back-to-back if the fifth installment opened at number one, but it only reached number
02:46three.
02:47Shh!
02:48Please.
02:49You'll wake the dead.
02:53A sixth film was confirmed to be in development in 2019, initially announced as a reboot before
02:58series creator Jeff Reddick backed away from the term.
03:01Production on the movie, titled Final Destination Bloodlines and directed by Zach Lepofsky and
03:07Adam Stein, got delayed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the SAG-AFTRA strike
03:13in 2023.
03:15It finally completed filming in May 2024.
03:18Originally set up as an HBO Max release, Final Destination Bloodlines is now slated for a
03:23theatrical and IMAX release sometime in 2025, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the original
03:29film.
03:31A new film from legendary director George A. Romero might be the last thing anyone would
03:36expect to hit theaters in the near future, especially since the acclaimed filmmaker died
03:41in 2017.
03:42That said, it's simply too perfect that an unfinished screenplay from the man responsible
03:47for Night of the Living Dead and its sequels, along with much of the zombie horror subgenre
03:51in general, ended up rising from the grave.
03:54Romero was working on the script for Twilight of the Dead, the seventh and final film in
03:58his Living Dead series, when he passed away.
04:01In 2021, his widow Suzanne announced plans to finish the script in collaboration with
04:05Joe Netter, Robert L. Lucas, and original co-writer Paolo Stellati.
04:10She told The Hollywood Reporter,
04:12"...this is the film he wanted to make, and while someone else will carry the torch as
04:16the director, it's very much a George A. Romero film."
04:19Two years later, in 2023, Brad Anderson signed on as the new director.
04:23He planned to shoot the film as soon as the SAG-AFTRA strike ended, but no additional
04:27information on the production has been revealed since then.
04:31The Insidious franchise has pumped out sequels on a regular enough basis that news of the
04:36sixth installment, currently scheduled for release on August 29th, 2025, shouldn't come
04:41as a surprise.
04:43But even if you've already marked your calendar for the next chapter in this saga of paranormal
04:47investigators versus vengeful demons, you might not have heard that a spinoff movie
04:52is also in the works.
04:54Thread, an Insidious tale, will star Mandy Moore and Kumail Nanjiani as a couple using
04:59time travel spells to undo their daughter's death.
05:02Jeremy Slater, the screenwriter who developed The Umbrella Academy and Moon Knight for streaming,
05:08plans to make his directorial debut with the project.
05:11It was first announced in May 2023, and there hasn't been any news about a release date
05:15since.
05:16If the spinoff does well, it's possible that the Insidious franchise could follow in the
05:21footsteps of its James Wan-launched possession series The Conjuring and expand into a full-blown
05:26cinematic universe.
05:28Premiering at Cannes in 2014 and released in America in 2015, the sexually transmitted
05:34monster movie It Follows ranks among the most acclaimed films of the 2010s indie horror
05:39wave.
05:40Tom Quinn, co-president of distribution company Radius TWC, expressed interest in a sequel
05:46shortly after its release.
05:48That project never came to fruition, though, and that probably has something to do with
05:51the fact that the TWC in the company's name stands for The Weinstein Company.
05:56The label went quiet, and director David Robert Mitchell took his talents elsewhere
06:00for his next project, the sprawling neo-noir Under the Silver Lake.
06:04Unfortunately for him, though, polarized reception earned him a stint in so-called director jail
06:09for a few years.
06:10Quinn, however, remained interested in pursuing the sequel to It Follows at his new company
06:15Neon.
06:16In October 2023, Neon officially announced the sequel They Follow, with Mitchell coming
06:21back to write and direct and Micah Munro returning as lead character Jay Height.
06:26Production is expected to begin sometime in 2025.
06:29Even though it's following you, I can still see it.
06:33It's not done with me either, okay?"
06:37Lionsgate spent nearly $20 million for the rights to the horror comedy The Blackening
06:41at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
06:45While the film didn't quite make all that money back in theaters in the summer of 2023,
06:50it still more than tripled its tiny budget and earned positive reviews.
06:54As such, the studio expressed interest in developing a sequel with original screenwriters
06:58Tracy Oliver and Dwayne Perkins, the latter of whom also played a character in the movie.
07:04Because it's still so early in development, not many details are known about what this
07:07second Blackening would entail, or when we might get to see it.
07:11However, Perkins told Variety that he'd want to bring back the cast of the first film while
07:15throwing them into a new scenario, comparing his vision to the Scary Movie franchise.
07:20That said, he teased that new characters would also be introduced in a sequel, saying,
07:25"...I feel like we've got something good, and I love the dynamic, but Fresh Blood always
07:29turns things up a little bit."
07:32A lot has changed in the years since 28 Days Later brought new life to the zombie subgenre
07:37in 2002.
07:39Its breakout star, Cillian Murphy, grew in fame thanks to Peaky Blinders and his collaborations
07:43with director Christopher Nolan, eventually winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and numerous
07:48other awards for his lead role in Oppenheimer.
07:51Director Danny Boyle also picked up a Best Director Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, and
07:55screenwriter Alex Garland became a respected auteur in his own right, directing films like
08:00Ex Machina and Civil War.
08:02Murphy, Boyle, and Garland all sat out the 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, but the three
08:07are reuniting for the upcoming 28 Years Later.
08:11It won't just be one movie, though.
08:13Sony Pictures plans to release three more films in the series, with the first hitting
08:16theaters on July 20th, 2025.
08:19Danny Boyle doesn't plan on returning for part two, though.
08:23Instead, Nia DaCosta, the director of the Candyman reboot and the Marvels, will take
08:27the lead on the project, which copyright filings hint will be subtitled The Bone Temple.
08:32Producing long multi-chapter series all at once doesn't always pay off, but anyone who
08:36loved the original 28 Days Later is likely to be intrigued by this long-awaited continuation.
08:43While many sequels flat-out ignore the theatrical cut of the previous film and instead build
08:48upon an alternate ending only available on home video, in fact, I Am Legend 2 might just
08:54be the first.
08:55Talking to Deadline about the upcoming sequel, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman revealed,
08:59"...we trace back to the original Matheson book and the alternate ending as opposed to
09:04the released ending in the original film.
09:06What Matheson was talking about was that man's time on the planet as the dominant species
09:10had come to an end.
09:12That's a really interesting thing we're going to get to explore."
09:15Will Smith was announced to be reprising his role as Robert Neville, who perished in the
09:19theatrical version of the film but survived in the alternate ending.
09:22His casting was announced just weeks before the infamous slap at the 2022 Academy Awards,
09:28although the box office success of Batboy's Ride or Die seems to show that Smith is still
09:33more than capable of selling blockbusters.
09:35He won't be flying solo, though, as Michael B. Jordan will co-star in I Am Legend 2.
09:40"...if there's anybody out there, anybody, please, you are not alone."
09:49The scary stories to tell in the dark books, written by Alvin Schwartz and originally illustrated
09:54by Stephen Gammill, have turned countless children into horror fans over the years.
09:59Naturally, it only made sense that a handful of frightening tales from the books would
10:03be adapted into a feature film that, while meant primarily for younger audiences, still
10:08features plenty of genuine frights.
10:10There are three books in the series, meaning that there's plenty more monstrous material
10:14left for director Andre Overdal to bring to the big screen.
10:17Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 2 was first announced way back in 2020.
10:22While doing press for his 2023 Dracula movie, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Overdal confirmed
10:27to IGN that, despite delays from COVID and the WGA and SAG strikes, the sequel was still
10:33in the works, saying simply,
10:35"...we have a story.
10:36We have a script."
10:37Following the conclusion of the strikes, star Zoe Coletti told The Direct,
10:41"...I will be so thrilled and excited for when I get to finally read a script and see what's
10:45been going on."
10:47In July 2021, Netflix released a full trilogy of movies inspired by R.L. Stine's Fear Street
10:54books, originally intended for theatrical release before the Disney-Fox merger.
10:58There was immediate interest in making more, but it took a while to figure out what form
11:02the franchise's future would take.
11:04Lee Janiec, director of the first three films, expressed an interest in making a 1950s-set
11:10slasher to follow up.
11:12Watcher director Chloe Okuno was announced to be directing her own Fear Street movie
11:16in late 2022, but the next installment in the saga is instead being helmed by Caliber
11:22director Matt Palmer.
11:23This new standalone Fear Street flick, officially called Fear Street Prom Queen, began production
11:29in March 2024.
11:31Based on Stine's 1992 novel, it follows a series of mysterious disappearances among
11:36Shadyside High's Class of 88.
11:39The ensemble for this prom-gone-wrong teen horror flick includes India Fowler, Susanna
11:45Sun, Fina Straza, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Ariana Greenblatt, Lily Taylor, and Katherine
11:51Waterston.
11:53It looks like Troll 2 might be coming to Netflix in the near future, and not the 1989 Claudio
11:58Fragazzo disaster piece that's widely considered to be one of the worst horror movies ever
12:03made.
12:04Oh my god!
12:08The newer Troll 2 is instead a sequel to the solidly-reviewed 2022 Norwegian monster movie
12:15Troll, directed by Roar Utag and released by Netflix.
12:19After breaking viewership records for non-English films on the streaming platform, Netflix requested
12:24the first film's crew return for a sequel, scheduled to shoot as early as 2024.
12:30Producers Espen Horn and Kristian Strand-Sinkerud told Variety,
12:33"[Troll 2 is, again, spinning on a Norwegian fairy tale figure, played, directed, and produced
12:39by Norwegians.]
12:40Presumably, this particular Troll 2 won't involve vegetarian goblins turning people
12:45into plants by feeding them green goop and getting defeated by a double-decker bologna
12:49sandwich.
12:51Instead, it'll almost certainly be another action-packed monster movie infused with Scandinavian
12:56mythology."
12:58Considering its impressive box office, viral popularity, and cliffhanger ending, it's no
13:03surprise that Megan will be receiving a sequel.
13:06The announcement of the aptly-titled Megan 2.0, which is currently scheduled for release
13:11on June 27, 2025, made waves online as fans celebrated the return of the killer robot
13:18doll.
13:19That said, production company Blumhouse wasn't content with just one addition to the budding
13:23franchise, as they later announced the production of a rather unusual spinoff.
13:28Soulmaid, spelled with an 8 instead of an A, seems to be veering into erotic thriller
13:33territory.
13:34The plot, which involves a man trying to replace his dead wife with an android who accidentally
13:38turns deadly, is likely to court a different audience from the PG-13 movie it's based on.
13:44All Dead Rise star Lily Sullivan is set to star as the malevolent A.I., with David Risdell
13:49in the role of the grieving husband.
13:51Claudia Dumit from The Boys has also been confirmed as a cast member.
13:56Kate Dolan, director of the Irish horror film You Are Not My Mother, is directing and rewriting
14:00a script first drafted by Raphael Jordan.
14:03Soulmaid will arrive in theaters on January 2, 2026.