MIND THE GAP
MARION MCMULLEN looks at the movie sequels that fans had to wait for
Film fans have had to wait 36 years to see the follow-up to 1986 hit movie Top Gun. Maverick sees Cruise reprise the role of US naval aviator Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell. The Hollywood star said it had been a case of “now or never” when discussing plans for the sequel.
2 There was a recordbreaking gap of 64 years between Disney’s Bambi (1942) and Bambi 2: The Great Prince Of The Forest in 2006. Sir Patrick Stewart (right), who played the Great Prince, was the only actor in the sequel who was alive when the first Bambi came out.
3 Dame Julie Andrews won an Oscar for her role as Mary Poppins in the 1964 film, but it took 54 years before the magical nanny was back once more, with Emily Blunt taking on the childcare duties in Mary Poppins Returns in 2018. US actor Dick Van Dyke (pictured with Andrews in the original film) returned to play a bank chairman.
4 Harrison Ford returned after 35 years to play Rick Deckard (below) in sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049. Director Denis Villeneuve said he felt under pressure to follow the 1982 film by Ridley Scott. “It’s gonna be the biggest risk of my like, but I’m OK with that,” he said.
5 There was a 33-year gap between Eddie Murphy’s 1988 comedy hit Coming To America and the release of Coming 2 America last year. Murphy (right) said the sequel was released following failed attempts to turn the original film into a stage show.
6 It took 28 years to bring out the sequel to 1982 sci-fi favourite Tron. Computer technology was used in Tron: Legacy in 2010 to make Jeff Bridges, above, look like his younger character, Kevin Flynn, from the original.
7 Paul Newman first enjoyed success as pool player Eddie Felson in The Hustler in 1961 and won an Oscar when the follow-up, The Color Of Money, was released 25 years later in 1986. Tom Cruise (below with Newman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) was his protégé Vincent.
8 Michael Douglas returned to the role of Gordon Gekko 23 years after the success of Wall Street (1987) for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (2010). The first scene he filmed for the sequel was Gekko getting out of jail.
9 Director Alfred Hitchcock’s movie classic Psycho terrified cinema audiences when it first came out in 1960, but it took 23 years before Anthony Perkins (pictured in the original) was back again as Norman Bates in Psycho II (1983). The film’s publicity simply warned, “Norman Bates is coming home”.
10 It took 19 years for the follow-up of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade to come out. Harrison Ford (pictured with Sean Connery who played Indy’s father in that film) returned in 2008 for Indiana Jones And the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull and is now busy on the fifth instalment of the adventure series.