In a world where franchise reboots like Star Trek have sequel talk being bandied about before its opening weekend box office receipts are finished being counted or where a prequel like X-Men Origins: Wolverine generates both sequel (A sequel to a prequel? A sprequel?) and spin-off film talk, it seems almost refreshing that a film not based on some pre-existing franchise or property may actually spawn its own sequel.
That’s the case with director Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming World War Two action film Inglorious Basterds. The film focuses on a squad of Jewish American soldiers let loose behind Nazi lines to cause as much mayhem as possible. Set for a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in two weeks, the film will hit American screens on August –.
In an interview with the New York Times, Tarantino hints that there are two possible film projects that could come about if Basterds is a success. The first would be a direct sequel. “Once the Basterds get through with Europe, they could go to the South and do it to the [Ku Klux Klan] in the ’50s,” he states.
Another possible direction would involve a subplot excised from Basterds‘s script involving African-American soldiers caught behind enemy lines- “I have a half-written prequel ready to go if this movie’s a smash.”
Tarantino has talked before about doing sequels and prequels to his films before. His long discussed The Vega Brothers would have focused on Michael Madsen’s Reservoir Dogs and John Travolta’s Pulp Fiction characters, who Tarantino has stated are siblings. He has also talked about a possible sequel to 2003/2004’s Kill Bill, which would involve the grown-up daughter of one of Darryl Hannah’s objects of vengeance seeking her own retribution for the death of her mother. Tarantino shelved Vega Brothers when he decided that his two stars looked older than the period of the characters’ lives he wanted to set the story in. His Kill Bill sequel still may happen someday, but not for a long while as the revenge-seeking daughter was only in elementary school in the original film.
Of course, Inglorious Basterds was a project that Tarantino had talked about for years and which many fans had begun doubt would ever happen. Even when he announced last year that he was going ahead with the film and would have it ready for the Cannes Film Festival, many, myself included, were skeptical. But now, here it is just a few weeks before the film’s premier, just as he promised. At this point I’d say it is even money that he will make one or both of these ideas.
