Sequel News : Smurfs, Avengers, Shining, Love Jones, Piranha, Ten Things

Sony Pictures Animation has, even before the release of “The Smurfs 2”, greenlit a third film in the CGI/Live-action hybrid franchise. “Over the Hedge” scribes Karey Kirkpatrick and Chris Poche are writing the project; Jordan Kerner, producer of the first two films, returns. “Smurfs 2” is out 2013, so this one will likely be released the following year. (Variety)

In news nobody saw coming (heh), Disney has announced a sequel to the… biggest blockbuster of all time. Disney chief Bob Iger said the film hasn’t got a release date locked in or anything but it will happen. “Eventually, [at] a date to be determined, you’ll see a sequel to Avengers,” he said. (ABC News)

Plot details for “Doctor Sleep”, Stephen King’s literary sequel to “The Shining” have been released. “Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.
Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”
Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.” Naturally “Doctor Sleep” will get the film treatment sooner rather than later. (Blastr)

Despite the original report suggesting it was, director Gil Junger has retracted claims that “Life” will be a direct sequel to “Ten Things I Hate About You”. Perez Hilton reports, “the new film is in fact NOT a sequel – just a “follow-up” …kinda sorta.” Okay, so there’s still the potential for some crossover characters, but also a good chance it might just play as a stand-alone without any link to that other “Ten Things” film.

Actress Nia Long says a sequel to the 1997 film, co-starring Larenz Tate, may happen. “The story lends itself to a sequel. Not every film should be a sequel but I’m really honored that the audience is asking about it, tweeting about it…. But I do have the passion and the desire to explore the opportunity”, the actress said. (s2s magazine)

A new clip from the upcoming “Piranha” sequel has come online, this one featuring everyone’s favourite lifeguard… David Hasselhoff!
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