Posted on 12/09/2024 1:32:03 PM PST by nickcarraway
After 50 years, Francis Ford Coppola has one regret about making what is largely considered the best sequel of all time.
According to the 5x Oscar winner, Hollywood’s ever-growing obsession with continuations is the result of his petty demands for making The Godfather Part II (1974), for which he fought Paramount Pictures on returning the director’s chair after the original 1972 was a major hit.
“They said, basically, ‘Francis, you’ve made Coca-Cola. You’re gonna stop making colas?'” recalled Coppola to The Washington Post.
Related Stories Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola To Receive 50th AFI Life Achievement Award In April ‘Megalopolis’ Interview with Francis Ford Coppola and Adam Driver Francis Coppola & Adam Driver On “The Death Of Journalism & The Death Of The Hollywood Studio System”; How ‘Megalopolis’ Reception Might Evolve Like ‘Apocalypse Now’ Did In attempt to get out of directing the sequel, Coppola suggested up-and-coming director Martin Scorsese take the reins.
When Paramount rejected the idea, Coppola made some seemingly unreasonable demands, including a then-exorbitant $1 million paycheck and the addition of ‘Part II’ to the title (he was inspired by the Russian films Ivan the Terrible, Part I [1944] and Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars’ Plot [1958]). Although the studio thought it was a crazy idea, they ultimately agreed.
Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II (1974). “So I’m the jerk that started numbers on movies,” Coppola added. “I’m embarrassed, and I apologize to everyone.”
Meanwhile, The Godfather Part II won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Coppola and Best Adapted Screenplay for him and author Mario Puzo. The film currently holds a 96% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 97% audience rating.
Coppola’s comments come after this year’s Dune: Part Two and amid the wait for Wicked: Part Two, coming to theaters Nov. 21, 2025.
Well there was many shows with sequels long before this.
Sherlock Holmes
Charlie chan
Nancy Drew
literally hundreds...
Actually there were 6 Thin Man movies
They're the same movie.
“Trial of Billy Jack.”
The Magnificent Seven and its sequels came out before the Planet of the Apes series, so would they be first?
Wait until you get further in the episodes. The two guys were where I stopped watching.
“UNTIL it went gay.”
Yes, the hints of the black girl’s girlfriend just started. Ugh. So far it’s low-key, but it never EVER stays low-key.
Go back farther. FRANKENSTEIN, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, ABBOT AND COSTELLO MEETS FRANKENSTEIN.
Same for the other great horror shows back when they were worth watching.
Sequels don’t work unless it’s an ongoing uninterrupted story.
You can never recapture lightning.
Add woke and you’re doomed.
Crap, they just can’t go with a good old-fashioned crime / courtroom drama, can they. At least the twice-married star is not homo and is now shacking up with a new squeeze from a restaurant...but I don’t trust her.
And we have the heart-of-gold protitute who may give up the profession and move to Hawaii.
And the ex-biker gang guy without much charisma (who has the beard but doesn’t seem at all like a hardcore biker guy — he’s too much of a teddy bear) is marrying ex-wife #2, the beautiful blond.
There’s something for everybody!
He flatters himself. Blake Edwards released the original “the Pink Panther” film in 1963, then two sequels before the original “The Godfather” was released, then six more sequels after.
Compared to Blake Edwards, Franny is a piker.
Bride of Frankenstien is better than Frankenstein.
It’s probounced Frank en stien.😂😂
There were plenty of sequels way before 1974. Think of old Republic serials going back to the late 1930s, and the Topper or Abott And Costello or Bowery Boys movies. There are plenty.
I'm a fan of the original Mad Max because of the simple story (it's a Western with cars), and what they were able to accomplish with almost no money.
The opening chase, where we're introduced gradually to Max, while we see the rest of his police force fail trying to capture the fugitive "Nightrider" is just brilliant.
“The Thin Man” series would like to have a word. The thin man himself cannot speak, as HE DIED IN THE FIRST FILM.
Yes!
finally...somebody to blame for the Police Academy franchise
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