Love to laugh? Well, you're in luck, because some of the greatest comedies of all time are getting sequels — and they're coming sooner than you might think.
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00:00Love to laugh? Well, you're in luck, because some of the greatest comedies
00:03of all time are getting sequels, and they're coming sooner than you might think.
00:07Director Rob Reiner made some fantastic films in the 1980s, including 1984's This Is Spinal Tap.
00:14The iconic mockumentary features Michael McKeon, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest as members
00:18of the fictional band Spinal Tap, who are followed by a documentary crew while they
00:22embark on an American tour.
00:23If you can see, the numbers all go to 11."
00:28Despite being a cult classic, few imagined the movie would ever get a follow-up. And yet,
00:32in 2022, news of a sequel broke. The stars are all back, as is Reiner as director.
00:37Not only will the entire band return for the new film a whopping 40 years after the original's
00:42release, but it will feature a number of musicians in cameo roles, including Paul McCartney,
00:46Questlove, Garth Brooks, Tricia Yearwood, Lars Ulrich, Elton John, and many, many more.
00:52Spinal Tap 2 began filming in early 2024. The movie was originally set to hit theaters in March,
00:57though delays related to the Hollywood strikes placed that date out of reach.
01:00According to Reiner, the goal is now a 2025 release.
01:04Hollywood has produced several Freaky Friday remakes since the first movie's release in 1976.
01:09The most popular of these was released in 2003, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a
01:14mother and daughter who switch bodies via a magical fortune cookie. A sequel to this hugely successful
01:19remake was always possible, but Lindsay Lohan's legal troubles likely prevented it from happening
01:24at the time. Thankfully, Lohan overcame her problematic period and returned to acting as
01:28an adult. Fans of the original Freaky Friday received some welcome news in May 2023 when
01:32Disney confirmed that a sequel was in the works. Girls and Brooklyn Nine-Nine director Nisha
01:37Ganatra is set to helm the movie, with Lohan and Curtis reprising their roles. According to Curtis,
01:42the shoot was both fun and emotional.
01:44We came together for 42 days and just laughed a lot, cried a lot."
01:48Titled Freakier Friday, the highly anticipated sequel is set for a 2025 release.
01:54Watching 1993's Hocus Pocus has become a Halloween tradition for many.
01:58Disney capitalized on the film's cult status by releasing Hocus Pocus 2 in 2022,
02:02which broke debut weekend streaming records with 2.7 billion minutes of views. The Sanderson
02:07sisters all came back for the second movie, and it seems they're set to return for a third outing,
02:11too. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, screenwriter Jen D'Angelo said that while
02:15everyone was charmed by the younger iterations of the Sanderson sisters in the second film,
02:19the third would focus firmly on the adult versions of the characters.
02:22D'Angelo also said that the project was still in the story phase, though it seems like one
02:26of the characters introduced in the second film will feature more prominently in the
02:29upcoming sequel. D'Angelo teased,
02:31"...we've only scratched the surface of Hannah Waddingham's mother witch."
02:35Hocus Pocus 3 is in full development at Disney with an estimated $100 million budget,
02:39so the studio is clearly committed to the franchise. Unfortunately,
02:42a release date hasn't yet been confirmed, but it stands to reason that the movie will
02:46release in October 2025 to coincide with the Halloween season.
02:50There have been two films in the Sister Act franchise to date. The original was released
02:54in 1992, and a follow-up hit theaters the following year. And although it's been a while
02:58since Whoopi Goldberg put on The Habit, a third film is most definitely on the way. In fact,
03:03it's been in the pipeline for quite some time now. Disney began development of Sister Act 3
03:07back in 2018. Little information has trickled out since then, however, with nothing concrete
03:11on the plot or the release date yet. Here's what we do know about Sister Act 3, though.
03:15High School Musical, The Musical, the series creator Tim Federle will helm the film,
03:19with a script written by Three Body Problems screenwriter Madhuri Shukar. It took a long
03:22time to finalize a story that everyone was happy with, but according to Sister Act 2 star
03:27Tanya Trotter, the script is now complete. The House of Mouse has also confirmed that
03:30the third Sister Act film will debut on Disney+, rather than getting a theatrical release.
03:351996's Happy Gilmore was an early success for Adam Sandler, one that helped him cement his
03:40place as a Hollywood star after breaking through on Saturday Night Live. Now, as Sandler's movies
03:44continue to dominate Netflix, it's no surprise that the streamer has decided to capitalize on
03:49one of his most famous characters. The script for the sequel was written by Sandler and his
03:53former college roommate Tim Herlihy. The former told The Hollywood Reporter,
03:56Sandler explained,
03:57"'We're happy where it's at, and this is an exciting time for us.
04:00I don't know how all of a sudden our brain said,
04:02let's do that. It just kind of happened.'"
04:04While Carl Weathers has sadly passed away since the first film's release,
04:07Christopher McDonald is set to return as Happy's uptight rival, Shooter McGavin.
04:11Benny Safdie will also appear, and Sandler has also confirmed a cameo by NFL star Travis Kelsey.
04:16The film went into production in September 2024. The official NetflixX account marked
04:20the occasion by sharing an image of the classic Boston Bruins jersey that Sandler wore in the
04:24original film.
04:26Dodgeball! A True Underdog Story was a huge success in 2004,
04:29making $168 million at the global box office against a $20 million budget.
04:35If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.
04:38What?
04:41But it wasn't until 2023 that news of a sequel broke,
04:44with Vince Vaughn returning to play gym owner Pete LeFleur.
04:46Jordan Bandana is writing the script based on a premise proposed by Vaughn,
04:50though it's unclear if the original film's writer and director Rosson Marshall Thurber will be
04:54involved. The rest of the cast of Dodgeball may well return, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
04:58Fans would no doubt love to see the major players reprise their roles, however. Justin
05:02Long has said that he would love to do it, but he's also revealed that Ben Stiller has
05:05trepidations about the project. He told ComicBook.com,
05:08It's very risky. You don't want to s**t on the original. You want something just as good. So
05:12I think he's a little wary of that, of trying to recreate something that was very specific
05:16to that time, but I hope he comes around on it."
05:18For now, there's been no concrete information in terms of plot,
05:21though Long also revealed in his ComicBook.com interview that,
05:24"...Vince has a great idea for it, and it's just a matter of getting Ben on board."
05:27Since it's in development at 20th Century Studios, Dodgeball 2 will likely stream on
05:31Hulu or Disney+, but there's still no telling when this one might come out.
05:35The Shrek franchise exploded after the release of the first film in 2001,
05:39and that movie has since been followed up by sequels, stage musicals, video games,
05:43comics, and more. While viewers got the chance to return to the world inhabited by the not-so-jolly
05:47Green Ogre with the 2022 spinoff Puss in Boots The Last Wish, the last proper Shrek movie was
05:52released back in 2010. That said, a fifth entry in the main franchise was announced in 2016,
05:57and while much has happened in Hollywood since then, Shrek 5 is still in the works.
06:01Illumination Entertainment CEO Chris Meledandri, whose studio is working with DreamWorks on Shrek
06:055, spoke to Variety in 2023 about the film. He said,
06:08"...you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best
06:12to honor those core elements. And then you're hard at work to build story elements and new
06:16characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that."
06:20Thankfully, Meledandri got his wish. In July 2024,
06:23the official DreamWorks Animation X account dropped a brief animation along with an
06:27exciting announcement. Shrek 5 is coming to theaters on July 1, 2026, and Mike Myers,
06:33Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz will all reprise their iconic roles.
06:37Shrek 5 isn't the only movie in the Shrek universe that's currently in the pipeline.
06:40According to Eddie Murphy, DreamWorks is also working on a spinoff about Shrek's mouthy sidekick,
06:45Donkey.
06:45When Murphy sat down for an interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub to promote Beverly
06:55Hills cop Axl Eff in June 2024, he revealed that he had already started working on the
06:59fifth Shrek film. He added,
07:01"...I did this. I recorded the first act, and we'll be doing it this year. We'll finish it up.
07:04Shrek's coming out, and Donkey's gonna have his own movie. We're gonna do Donkey as well. So
07:08we're gonna do a Shrek, and we're doing a Donkey."
07:10When Weintraub asked if the two films were being made back-to-back, Murphy said,
07:14"...No, not at the same time. I started recording Shrek. I think it's coming out in 2025,
07:18and we're doing a Donkey one next."
07:20The fact that the Donkey spinoff is being made separately from Shrek 5 means it probably won't
07:23hit theaters for several years, but the fact that it's actually happening will be enough to get
07:27fans of the franchise excited. In fact, many are of the opinion that Donkey should have had his
07:31own movie before Puss in Boots. As one Redditor observed,
07:34"...it's astounding that it took this long to greenlight a Donkey spinoff."
07:38Kingpin was a box office bomb that quickly became a cult classic.
07:42News of a second Kingpin film broke in 2021 with director duo Peter and Bobby Farrelly set to
07:47return. Peter Farrelly told Slash Film in 2024 that they were still working on the script,
07:52however. He said,
07:53"...We're not quite there yet. Writing is hard. I want to get it right,
07:56so we're still bouncing around ideas. We're not sure, but we are developing it, yes."
08:00Like most movies in the early stages of development, there's not much known
08:03regarding Kingpin 2's potential release date, plot, or stars. The first movie boasted a large
08:08cast of talented actors, and fans will no doubt be hoping that, at the very least,
08:12Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray will return as Roy Munson and Bigger and McCracken, respectively.
08:16It's anyone's guess when Kingpin 2 will arrive, but odds are it won't be until 2026 at the earliest.
08:222020 saw the release of a surprisingly clever sequel in Bill & Ted Face the Music,
08:26which reunited Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as Bill S. Preston Esquire and Ted Logan
08:3129 years after the previous film in the franchise. It appears that the journey of
08:35the Wild Stallions may not be finished either. During an appearance on The Sarah O'Connell Show,
08:39Winter revealed that a fourth film was in the early stages of development.
08:42"...We're tinkering with a fourth movie idea that all of us like and the guys are gonna write."
08:50Winter made it clear that things are very much up in the air right now,
08:52but the fact that a script is even in the works will be music to the ears of Bill and Ted fans.
08:57"...Excellent!"
08:59Intriguingly, Winter also revealed that the premise for the fourth film was obvious,
09:03but it's anyone's guess where the franchise will take Bill & Ted next.
09:06Many people have been asking if there will be a sequel to 2021's Free Guy, and the answer is,
09:11maybe. Seeing as the ending of the first film left things pretty open, a sequel certainly would make
09:15sense. The original also did well upon release, despite the problems posed by the COVID-19
09:20pandemic. And in 2022, director Sean Levy told Collider that Free Guy 2 is very much happening.
09:25He said,
09:26"...It's still in development. It's something that Disney and Fox want badly. One thing
09:29Levy was keen to stress in his interview is that he wants to take it slow with the sequel,
09:33preferring to make sure they can produce a great movie before anything gets going."
09:36Levy shared another update on the film in July 2024 while promoting Deadpool and Wolverine,
09:41and it wasn't what fans of the original wanted to hear. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter,
09:44the filmmaker revealed that nothing has stuck yet in terms of a story and that,
09:48if they couldn't find a good angle, they may just walk away from the proposed sequel altogether.
09:52He said,
09:52"...We've worked for two years on ideas and scripts. I'm less certain now because
09:56we're really proud of the movie and we don't need to make sequels. If we don't crack a story
10:00that feels very worth making, we'd rather just make a different movie."
10:03You may be surprised to learn that the Kevin Smith cult hit Mallrats has a sequel on the way.
10:07Smith dropped the bomb that he was creating a follow-up titled Twilight of the Mallrats in
10:112020. While the first movie is far from Smith's most acclaimed project, it has a loyal fan base,
10:16and news of a sequel seems to have gotten people excited. At one stage,
10:19Smith attempted to create a Mallrats TV series about Brody and his daughter,
10:22so there's a good chance he'll return to that concept for Twilight of the Mallrats.
10:26Shannon Doherty, who sadly died from breast cancer in July 2024,
10:29even got a chance to read the script before her passing.
10:32"...It's sweet."
10:32"...Fun celebration."
10:33"...And nostalgic. It's nostalgic, but like in a really, really, really good way."
10:37Speaking to People magazine, Smith revealed that Doherty really wanted to do the sequel,
10:40and that her death has made him more determined than ever to get it off the ground.
10:44The filmmaker revealed that Doherty's role in the original film gave it a big boost. He said,
10:48"...It was weird when it came out. It didn't do well. But when we first came to the Comic-Con
10:5229 years ago, man, we were embraced, and we were largely embraced because of her,
10:56because she had the credibility in the crowd."
10:58The Jumanji franchise was given a shot of adrenaline with the release of 2017's Jumanji
11:03Welcome to the Jungle. That film spawned a sequel, 2019's Jumanji The Next Level,
11:07which hinted at yet another movie with a mid-credits scene. Soon afterward,
11:11Dwayne Johnson revealed that another sequel was indeed in the works. Johnson has even spilled
11:15some potential plot details, revealing that the villain from The Next Level was actually an avatar,
11:19and that the upcoming sequel will explore who was playing him.
11:22COVID-19 mucked up development plans for the next Jumanji film,
11:25but director Jake Kasdan is still moving forward with the film. Kasdan indicated he'd bring the
11:29entire cast back, so expect to see Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan reprising their
11:34roles. He told NME,
11:36"...The whole thing, to me, is built on the foundation of those people. The game cast
11:39are these brilliant movie stars, these iconic people. There's no news on when we can expect
11:43to see the next entry in the franchise."
11:45However, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Gillan said,
11:48"...I haven't heard anything about it other than the fact that we will be doing it at some point.
11:51So we're all so enthusiastic about it. We all love working on those films,
11:55and it's just a matter of when."
11:56The 2005 Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy Wedding Crashers is one of those ridiculous
12:01movies that almost everyone loved, and it made a ton of cash at the box office. Unfortunately,
12:06a planned follow-up appears to be stuck in development hell. News of a sequel first
12:09arose in 2014 from director David Dopkin. He outlined the plot of a potential Wedding
12:14Crashers 2, which would have seen Daniel Craig introduced as the king of all Wedding Crashers.
12:18That project never came to light, but two years later, Isla Fisher said during an appearance
12:22on Today that Vince Vaughn had indicated that a sequel was still in development.
12:26Vaughn later told CinemaBlend that Dopkin has a really good idea for the story. Unfortunately,
12:30due to scheduling issues, plans to make the sequel were put on hold in 2021. The project
12:34wasn't scrapped entirely, however, so there's still a chance Wedding Crashers 2 will eventually
12:38see the light of day.
12:401987's Spaceballs follows four heroes fighting the good fight against the title villains in
12:45a spoof of the Star Wars trilogy and several other sci-fi classics.
12:48Well, you don't need that private. We're right here. Now, what is it?
12:55One of the movie's greatest jokes was the meta-commentary about merchandising,
12:59and in one scene, the character Yogurt teases Spaceballs 2, the search for more money. It's
13:03a throwaway joke that didn't mean much at the time, as there wasn't really any chance that
13:07the film would see a sequel. Still, fans have been demanding the search for more money for
13:10decades, and in 2024, news dropped that they were finally getting their wish.
13:14While it probably won't use the title teased in the first film, a sequel is coming from Brooks
13:18and co-writer Josh Gad, who will also star. Sadly, several notable Spaceballs actors have died since
13:23the first film's release. It's unknown how the sequel will handle the passing of John Candy
13:27and Joan Rivers, among others. Whatever Brooks and Gad come up with, fans of the original will
13:32no doubt flock to see it. The sequel is being made by Amazon, who declined to comment on plot
13:36details or a potential release date when approached by Variety. For his part, Gad remained
13:40tight-lipped when he was asked about the project during an appearance at Toronto's Fan Expo Canada
13:44in 2024, but he did reveal how Brooks reacted when he first shared his idea for the sequel.
13:49According to Gad, Brooks said,
13:51"'Josh, you've got your finger on the pulse.'"
13:52That's high praise from a comedy legend,
13:54and this update will no doubt have fans of the original excited about what's to come.