Entertainment
20 Years Later, These 10 Movies Deserve a Sequel
From the year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, The Departed, to cult classics like The Devil Wears Prada, 2006 was an exceptional year for movies. With the recent release and overwhelming box office and critical success of The Devil Wears Prada 2, it becomes inevitable to ponder a certain question: are there any other films from 2006 that deserve a sequel all these many years later?
Of course, it’s rather unlikely that most of these ten films will actually get a sequel, and whether that hypothetical sequel would be able to stick the landing remains a separate question entirely; but for the fun of pure speculation, 2006 is one of the best years to look back on as a fountain of endless sequel potential. From comedies to animated family movies to political satires, these films would make a lot of people happy if they received a follow-up.
‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’
Considering that he’s probably the most universally beloved filmmaker currently working in Hollywood, an endorsement from Christopher Nolan means an awful lot. The director has praised Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in the past, which automatically makes this one of the best comedies of the 2000s.
Here’s the thing about a potential Talladega Nights sequel: here we have a movie that is very much the product of its time, as this sort of absurd comedy that was a staple of the 2000s isn’t really seen all that often nowadays. Even so, a sequel that expanded the original’s themes of hubris and personal redemption by following an aging Ricky being replaced by younger drivers in a more corporatized NASCAR does sound irresistibly tempting.
‘Monster House’
Though it’s definitely sprinkled with elements of comedy, Monster House is a horror movie for kids through and through, making it a phenomenal introduction to the genre for the little ones of the family. The movie’s story came full circle in an entirely satisfying way, but the concept of architecture being haunted by people’s trauma opens the door to all sorts of interesting premises.
The best kind of sequel that Monster House could possibly get would be a spiritual one. Perhaps it could be an entire school that becomes haunted this time, much more directly approaching the coming-of-age genre with an expanded scope and a bigger ensemble. Hollywood hasn’t really gone back to motion-capture animated films since Disney’s Mars Needs Moms flopped. Could a Monster House sequel be the perfect excuse to show what the technology can do in 2026?
‘Click’
You never know what you’re going to get with Adam Sandler. It’s every bit as likely that you’ll get a Ridiculous 6 or a Hubie Halloween as it is that you’ll get an Uncut Gems or a Jay Kelly. And then there’s Click, which sits comfortably somewhere in the middle. It’s one of Sandler’s most mysteriously beloved movies, a bit of a cult classic that people love due to its unique blend of comedy and dramatic moments.
This is another case of a film whose main character’s story was so well-rounded that we don’t really need to see him again, but it’s a gimmick too clever to pass up for a potential spiritual sequel. A Click follow-up without Adam Sandler may sound like a silly idea, but if you get a good dramedy director and give him this reality-controlling remote as the center of this narrative, they could do some really interesting things with that premise.
‘The Departed’
After nearly forty years of his career, Martin Scorsese finally made his way to a Best Director Academy Award for a masterpiece that also won Best Picture: The Departed, a remake of the iconic Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs. It’s one of the most intense gangster movies ever made, a complete reinvention of the genre formula that Scorsese had practically invented.
There are definitely differences between Infernal Affairs and The Departed, with Scorsese’s modern classic being almost an hour longer, but the fact that the Hong Kong original has not just one, but two sequels, shows that there’s potential here for a bigger story. At first glance, it seems like the story of The Departed is closed. However, what’s left behind by the time the credits roll is a fundamentally corrupt police system and no clear-cut heroes left, establishing the foundations for another cat-and-mouse game that’s just as enthralling as the first.
‘The Prestige’
Thanks exclusively to his Dark Knight trilogy, Sir Christopher Nolan is no stranger to sequels, but he’s never really made one for any other of his movies, and The Prestige doesn’t seem any likelier. That’s probably for the better, but if we’re talking about movies that deserve a sequel 20 years later, this one definitely has to be way up there.
For people who love thrillers packed with plot twists, this one’s a must-see—and its sequel would likely be just as great. The self-contained rivalry between Alfred Borden and Robert Angier is one that doesn’t really need a sequel. But Tesla’s machine? There absolutely is a story there. Though the role of Tesla himself would likely not have the same kind of magic that he had by being played by David Bowie in The Prestige, the steampunk world of the film is one that’s simply too fascinating to happily leave behind.
‘Over the Hedge’
DreamWorks Animation is a studio that’s gone through its fair share of ups and downs over the years, delivering duds just as often as they deliver undeniable masterpieces of the medium. Every now and then, too, they deliver movies that are great yet end up slipping under people’s radars as the years pass. Over the Hedge is one such film, one of those near-perfect family movies that nobody remembers anymore.
There’s a ton of commentary to potentially make on 2020s hyper-consumerism and environmental collapse.
The 2006 original does what DreamWorks did best during the 2000s: satire. Over the Hedge is suburban satire at its family-friendly best, but the American suburbs have changed plenty since 2006. There’s a ton of commentary to potentially make on 2020s hyper-consumerism and environmental collapse (animals fighting the construction of an AI data center, anyone?). This gang of characters is one so fun and vibrant that it would be criminal for DreamWorks not to revisit them again.
‘The Holiday’
Though it wasn’t particularly well-received by critics back in 2006, Nancy Meyers‘ The Holiday was well-received by audiences. Two decades later, it’s one of the most beloved rom-coms of its era and an outright gem for an entire generation. It’s sweet, moving, well-acted, and though it may not be the most unpredictable romantic film ever, the kind of formula that it follows is a tried-and-true one that still works.
It’s one of Jack Black‘s best comedy movies, and after the travesty that was A Minecraft Movie, the world deserves more high-quality Jack Black comedies. A sequel to The Holiday could explore whether these cross-continental relationships actually lasted—and if so, how. It could be an exploration of life after your classic ol’ rom-com ending, and it could also bring Nancy Meyers back to the world, since the filmmaker hasn’t made a feature since 2015.
‘Nacho Libre’
Speaking of beloved Jack Black comedies, it doesn’t get much more beloved than Nacho Libre. It’s (very) loosely based on the true story of Fray Tormenta, a Mexican Catholic priest who had a career as a masked professional wrestler, through which he supported the orphanage he directed. It’s tricky to make sequels to films based on true stories, but the wonderful thing about this cult classic is that there absolutely is a story here to tell.
The real Fray Tormenta retired from wrestling in 2011, but he still works at the orphanage as a priest and has inspired one of his children to take up his mantle, who goes by the name of Fray Tormenta Jr. Whereas the original Nacho Libre was a story about pursuing one’s passions in spite of any obstacles, a potential Nacho Libre 2 can be a tale about legacy and the way it shapes the life purpose of aging heroes like Fray Tormenta.
‘The Host’
Bong Joon Ho was already an internationally acclaimed filmmaker by the time he released his third-ever feature film, The Host. The Bong from 2006, however, would have likely not even dreamed that he would one day be Academy Award winner Bong Joon Ho. With the level of acclaim (and trust from Hollywood studios) that he holds now, it’s time for the director to revisit the world of this beloved creature feature.
The thing about The Host is that it’s more than just a creature feature: it’s a political satire critiquing foreign influence and governmental incompetence, themes that have evolved in such ways since 2006 that there’s a lot Bong could still explore there. Perhaps introducing new characters and a new mutation, a potential sequel to The Host could hold even higher stakes—and have much higher-quality CGI, while it’s at it.
‘Idiocracy’
It’s practically a running gag of the 2020s by this point that no longer does Idiocracy seem like a silly, over-the-top social satire, but rather like more of a documentary. It’s one of those sci-fi cult classics that are perfect throughout, and even though it has aged like fine wine as a prophetization of the anti-intellectualism, corporate dominance, and decline in critical thinking that plagues the modern day, there’s a lot that a sequel could do to expand and update those themes.
Star Luke Wilson has stated that he’s constantly pitching sequel ideas to director Mike Judge, but that an actual Idiocracy follow-up hasn’t yet materialized. It’s about time it did. A further exploration of how systems incentivize ignorance and how artificial intelligence has blurred the line between truth and fiction could make a potential Idiocracy 2 just as timely in the modern day as Idiocracy was back in 2006. If there’s one film from 20 years ago that desperately needs a sequel, it’s this one.
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