After seeing a great movie that holds your heart hostage with a great storyline and interesting characters, the fear of a sequel ruining the series can be astronomical. We have all experienced the terrible sequel or a film that doesn’t live up to its legend. There are many factors that can lead to a downward spiral of the next installment in a series, and this list of Do’s and Don’ts narrows down what the audience may dread to see.

Don’t:

• Turn the audience against their favorite characters
• Don’t expect comedy to make your movie good
• Center the movie around the main characters progeny
• Make an annoying love interest
• Have the villain (maybe) die every movie just to come back to life
• Enter an irrelevant character that does nothing
• Contain a stare off where two people look at each other to see which one is the scariest
• Make a love triangle (they’re annoying)
• If your sequel is a book to movie film….DON’T. CHANGE. THE. STORYLINE.

Do:

• Pick up the movie where you left off.
• Give context to any changes between the sequel and the previous film
• Follow up on a Ship
• Have an interesting love interest that joins seamlessly
• Make the title a pun. The Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakquel was pretty good
• Have an interesting villain with a backstory
• Contain plot twists that fit into the overall theme of the movie
• Improve any aspect of your characters. (in personality, powers, skills, will)

        As a lover of movies, but an amateur critic these are the recurring themes that I have seen many times over the years. Some are loved and others are irritating, but it’s important to know that the smallest features can lead to success in a film.