Do we really need a sequel to “It’s a Wonderful Life”?

“The African Queen“and “A Night at the Opera” shouldn’t!

Yes. But they should make it more realistic and replace the angels with space aliens.

I don’t think someone could ever remake that film and hit the same feeling. Maybe we’re more jaded and wouldn’t buy into it. On the other hand the Star Wars sequels hit the spot, and maybe some of the Batman or Superman one’s too.

No more than we need full-length, live-action versions of Dr. Seuss books. The stories are already perfect; they don’t need to be “enhanced” by backstory and embellishment.

It’s hard to say how a sequel would play out. The Bailey kids become beatniks, go off to San Francisco. Zuzu becomes a Gloria Steinem feminist mentor, and opens Planned Parenthood centers, while her brother becomes a John Bircher and supports Goldwater “even though he’s a little pink.”

George becomes a McCarthy Democrat, while his brother is a secret financier working with Bebe Rebozo and Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President.

@glacial I didn’t think they should have made a movie of “Where the Wild Things Are.”

No, the original is bad enough on it’s own.

@janbb Agreed. :(

Someone did remake “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Marlo Thomas stepped into Jimmy Stewart’s role, with the name of Mary Bailey. Her husband was George Bailey.

If I recall, it just didn’t work. The scene when Jimmy Stewart so powerfully rants at Mr. Potter for being a small, cruel man? No “oomph” at all when Marlo Thomas said the same lines.

Look for Seth Rogan to play George Bailey’s son, and the whole point of this movie is how the world would have been better off without him.
The Simpsons did this very story a dozen years ago. That worked. To make a full length movie is stupid.

How do you cast Mr. Potter now? He’s all the hedge fund managers, the top executives of all the biggest Wall Street bank/investment bank/investment insurer rolled into one, all the lobbyists that bribed the crooked politicians to deregulate the system till they could deliberately build the sub-prime real estate bubble and sell trillions in mortgage backed securities based on it. It’d be great to make a movie, but it would be nothing like It’s a Wonderful Life.

@ETpro I’m sure you’re right – and every character will be a caricature. Grrr.

The cynic in me wonders if the pitch for the sequel involved writing Bert the cop & Ernie the cab driver as a gay couple.

Every time you hear a bell ring, it means an angel’s saving us from a sequel

@SadieMartinPaul, as I mentioned in the original question, there have been lots of TV remakes. That one was one of the worst.

Thanks for your comments, everybody. There’ll be a special screening of the original IAWL on my big-screen TV in December and you’re all invited. Peanuts will be served.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room I didn’t know that the Marlo Thomas cover had been a TV remake. To be honest, the movie was so forgettable, I barely remember it.

There are made-for-TV and direct-to-video (or DVD) films. Is there really any discernible difference?

@SadieMartinPaul, it was called “It Happened One Christmas”, made for TV in ‘77. Frank Capra was still alive and must have been appalled.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room Wasn’t “One Magic Christmas” also a remake of It’s a Wonderful Life? Possibly the most depressing Christmas movie ever made.

@glacial, yes I think you’re right. I’ve always thought of IAWL as an updating of A Christmas Carol, itself remade for movies and TV a million times. The 1952 version with Alastair Sim is my favorite.

Yes, good point. I’m afraid I’ve never warmed to A Christmas Carol, despite wanting very much to like the Sim version.

9 beloved movies with awful sequels you probably don’t know about

@glacial, for me it’s a must-watch every year. The scene that never fails to move me is when Scrooge visits his nephew’s home on Christmas Day and dances with the niece-in-law he had never met. None of the other versions handles this scene so poignantly.