Fans Begged For These Sequels And Got Nothing

In Hollywood, sequels can mean big business for movie studios—raking in cash and merchandise sales by capitalizing on popular and established film franchises. However, studios frequently invest their time and money into lackluster cash-grab sequels that probably shouldn't have been made—like Terminator 3 or S. Darko—while completely ignoring popular films that really deserved a follow-up. Here's a look at some of the movies that had fans practically begging for a sequel that just never happened.

After The Goonies first came out in 1985, it became almost an instant cult classic. Fans couldn't get enough of the treasure-hunting gang of misfit teens, and people began clamoring for a sequel immediately. As those fans have aged, their call for a sequel revisiting the "Goon Docks" has only gotten louder. In 2005, Jeff Cohen ("Chunk") told fans that while Steven Spielberg (who wrote the original movie), director Richard Donner, and the cast were all on board, the studio executives at Warner Brothers weren't too keen on shelling out the cash to make a sequel. However, Donner has claimed that "Goonies 2 will still happen, provided enough of you keep complaining and sending in letters."

Since then, fans have been getting some extremely mixed signals about the status of a Goonies sequel. Sean Astin ("Mikey") called it "an absolute certainty" in 2007, while Corey Feldman ("Mouth") said in 2008, "There is no Goonies 2! I'm sorry but it's just not gonna happen." Donner brought the hype back in 2014, telling a photographer that the sequel was already in the works and that he had plans to bring back the entire original cast. Unfortunately, there's been only radio silence on the Goonies front since then.

While spoofs are a dime a dozen, few have been as popular as Mel Brooks' 1987 comic science-fiction movie Spaceballs. Starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Daphne Zuniga, and Rick Moranis, Spaceballs went on to become a cult classic and remains one of Brooks' most popular movies. Although Spaceballs was a parody of Star Wars and other sci-fi franchises, it has since gone on to become just as important to pop culture and entertainment as the films it was inspired by.

Eager fans have been waiting for years for a Spaceballs sequel to make its way to the big screen. In fact, the wait has been a bit of a tease—director Mel Brooks has promised (then failed to deliver) Spaceballs II on several occasions. In 2013, Rick Moranis said that some years prior, he had discussed a possible Spaceballs sequel with Brooks. Moranis (who is on hiatus from acting) also revealed that ultimately he and Brooks were unable to reach a deal on the project. In 2015, Brooks revived fan interest in the sequel when he said the new Star Wars trilogy made now a perfect time to create Spaceballs II. Even though several members of the original cast have passed away, Brooks said that he'd do it if he could get Daphne Zuniga and Moranis on board. At an event in early 2017, Brooks revealed that he was in talks with MGM about developing the sequel, but, unfortunately, there's been no news since then.

If you've ever watched network television between Thanksgiving and Christmas, then chances are you've probably seen the heartwarming movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, and Zooey Deschanel. After its release in 2003, Elf became an instant success that has since joined the pantheon of "classic" Holiday films—an impressive feat for a relatively recent movie. Naturally, a large number of fans would love to see an Elf sequel that covers Buddy's next stage in life.

In an interesting reversal from many of the other films on our list, the roadblock for getting an Elf sequel hasn't been the studio executives. Instead, the main detractors are actually Elf director Jon Favreau and star Will Ferrell. New Line Cinema (which produced Elf) is undoubtedly eager to capitalize on the original's success, but when the topic of Elf 2 comes up, Favreau has been generally noncommittal; Ferrell has even been downright negative about the idea. In the end, neither the Elf director or its star are very interested in putting their necks on the line for a risky project that could potentially damage the reputation of the original—which means Elf fanatics will not be getting a sequel under the tree from Santa anytime soon.

The 2008 British-American crime comedy film RocknRolla received mixed reviews and grossed only $25 million worldwide, but it shot to #1 in the U.K. box office in its first week of release and gained a dedicated fan following. Naturally, many of those fans want to know when the next film will be out. RocknRolla director Guy Ritchie had revealed, before the movie's release, that he wanted to develop his movie into a trilogy—which had fans excited. Not only has Ritchie been dropping hints about a sequel for years, the movie literally ends with a title card that promises the characters will be back in "The Real RocknRolla."

In 2011, Ritchie told Movieline that he'd already written a "great" script for the sequel and that RocknRolla producer Joel Silver was ready to foot the bill for the project to get started. However, Richie had been too busy making big movies like Sherlock Holmes and its sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows to focus on RocknRolla 2. Since then, Ritchie has directed 2015's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and 2017's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. With Ritchie currently filming a live-action Aladdin adaptation for Disney (slated for a 2019 release), it's unlikely we'll see a RocknRolla sequel anytime soon.

Although Beatrix Kiddo's bloody tale of revenge came to a close in 2004's Kill Bill: Volume 2, parts of her story were definitely left open-ended: What might happen when Vernita Green's daughter Nikki grows up?  Will Nikki seek out Black Mamba to take her own revenge? And what does the future hold in store for little B.B.? Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino said back in 2004 that he wanted to make another sequel to his martial arts drama franchise and that he even had the basic story arc of the next film planned already.

Tarantino has also discussed the idea of creating some animated Kill Bill films to explore the origin stories of both Bill and The Bride. Tarantino later said that Kill Bill Volume 3 would be his ninth film, to be released in 2014, but the project was later shelved and The Hateful Eight (2015) ended up taking its place. In 2016, the director was still talking about making a Kill Bill sequel and revealed he'd spoken to Uma Thurman about the project. However, there's been no word on the sequel since then, and Tarantino has moved forward on a film about the Charles Manson murders under the working title Helter Skelter.