Movie sequels that shift focus on characters

“Jurassic Park” was a massive success, and it was built around the epic visuals and the fairly-realistic CGI dinosaurs, which was revolutionary technology at the time. While the cast was good, they didn’t need headlining stars. Steven Spielberg, who didn’t direct a “Jaws” sequel, did opt to direct a sequel to “Jurassic Park.” Jeff Goldblum moved from secondary co-star to ostensible lead, but he was surrounded by all new characters. Including a previously unmentioned daughter.

When “Predator” was a massive, genre-defining hit, clearly a sequel was going to be in the offing. The problem was that they couldn’t feasibly pick up from where the first film left off (it would have been even sweatier than “Die Hard 2”). So, basically, they just had another Predator alien show up, but they dropped him into Los Angeles as opposed to the jungle. That’s a reasonable premise, but the execution wasn’t great.

They didn’t just change the focal point for this sequel, they swapped the new protagonist into the title! “Finding Nemo” was a massive hit, and it remains a favorite among Pixar movies for many. Back in the day Pixar sequels weren’t the norm, but once that was the case a “Nemo” sequel was guaranteed. This time, the forgetful fish Dory voiced by Ellen DeGeneres took center stage. “Finding Dory” also came through in a big way. In addition to good reviews, it made over a billion dollars.

This wouldn’t have made the cut if Keanu Reeves had returned for the sequel to “Speed.” Wisely, though, he decided not to. That left Sandra Bullock to pair off with Jason Patric for this sequel, which is set on a boat instead of a bus. While we did get an all-time sequel subtitle from this movie, that’s the only thing it has going for it.

Sure, all the usual Transformers were around, but we’re talking about the human protagonists. By the third movie Michael Bay’s bombastic franchise had lost Megan Fox, but for this, the fourth movie, Shia LeBeouf was also out. Who did one hire to star in a generic action movie in 2014? The same guy you hire these days: Mark Wahlberg.

Early on, they didn’t envision “Fast and Furious” as a massive ensemble spanning the globe. It wasn’t built around whatever weird internal lore Vin Diesel has conjured up. No, Universal figured they’d make cheap movies about car racing using the “Fast and Furious” branding and then change characters and locations every time. “Tokyo Drift” is the strongest example of that, with nobody from the first two films having a role (beyond an uncredited cameo).

Vin Diesel may be preoccupied with creating the world of “Fast and Furious” and “Riddick,” but he doesn’t seem as engaged with “XXX,” which is, remarkably, more empty calories than either of those franchises. In the first film, Diesel played high-octane spy Xander Cage, but he didn’t pop back in for the sequel. Instead, we got Ice Cube as, um, Darius Stone. Xavier Stone was sitting right there, guys.

No, we aren’t going to just call it “Scream” like Paramount would like us to do with this legacy sequel. While the big three from the first series returned (Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox), they were definitely sidelined for the most part. They needed to do that to focus on all these new characters pretzeled into being tied into the first four movies, after all. While there are some eye-rolling elements to “Scream 5,” and while the reboots have been a bit gutless, this movie is fine enough as far as legacy sequels go.

This was just full-on mining I.P., because “Jumanji” barely has anything to do with “Welcome to the Jungle.” That was a movie about an enchanted, evil board game. This is about a video game. It was mostly an action-comedy vehicle for Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart! And yet! Credit where it is due, “Welcome to the Jungle” is a fun, wholly-watchable action-comedy.

“Halloween” is a horror classic. “Halloween II” is your usual sequel. For “Halloween III,” they did try to get experimental. Instead of doing another Michael Myers story, they considered turning “Halloween” into an anthology movie. As such, “Season of the Witch” is about haunted masks. You know, like the “Goosebumps” story “The Haunted Mask?” While “Season of the Witch” is considered a cult classic to some, after this they did say, “JKJK this is a Michael Myers series.”

“10 Cloverfield Lane” is only tangentially tied to “Cloverfield,” but it is considered a sequel. It’s also a watchable movie, which we can’t say about the nauseating camerawork of the found-footage original. Ostensibly, “10 Cloverfield Lane” is a smaller story happening during the events of “Cloverfield,” but it is a taut, scary thriller with a great performance from John Goodman.

Lionsgate may try to present this as a spinoff of “John Wick,” but we aren’t letting it get away with that. After all, not only is John Wick in the film, once the studio got worried “Ballerina” wasn’t going to be a success suddenly Wick was heavily featured in the trailers and ads. In fact, they also started presenting it as “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.” Sure, you can pretend like it’s just called “Ballerina” now, but it’s a John Wick movie that focuses on Ana de Armas’ Eve.

Yes, technically both John Connor and Kyle Reese are in “Terminator Salvation.” They are older versions, though, played by Christian Bale and Anton Yelchin, respectively. However, even if you don’t count that, you have to count this one as pivoting the main characters. Not only is there no Sarah Connor, this is the only “Terminator” movie not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800.

Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley managed to Final Girl it up for four movies. However, when Ridley Scott returned to the series for the first time since the original, he wanted to get into some prequel lore-building stuff. “Prometheus” fills in some “Alien” gaps and also does its own body-horror and sci-fi faction. “Alien: Covenant” does bring Michael Fassbender’s David along for the ride, but then “Alien: Romulus” also features on whole new characters.

This is the shruggiest shrug among these movies. “Godzilla” took itself seriously. “Kong: Skull Island” wanted to be a period piece. Once they got to “Godzilla x Kong” they realized this franchise should just be gloriously-dumb fun. “King of the Monsters,” though, is stuck as neither fish nor fowl. Sally Hawkins did carry over, but the main characters such as Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were all gone.

They tipped the plan by calling this one “The Next Karate Kid.” You knew the kid of karate was going to be replaced. That made sense, given that Ralph Macchio, and thus Daniel LaRussa, was no longer a kid. Pat Morita returned as Mr. Miyagi, but this time he was training a new kid, played by Hillary Swank in her first starring role.

We aren’t delving into the direct-to-video sequels, but one “Home Alone” sequel without the McCallisters did get a theatrical release. Yes, everybody was gone. Not just Kevin, but Harry and Marv as well as every McCallister family member. Instead, it was just some kid named Alex who was left home alone. This was a premise-based sequel, not a character-based sequel.

We’re not counting the Kristen Wiig “Ghostbusters,” which was a standalone reboot attempt. When that went, you know, okay, they decided to get back to the world of “Ghostbusters.” Now, that was not a world that had any real substantive history or lore. Tell that to Jason Reitman. Riding his father’s coattails, we were introduced to a bunch of new characters in an inexplicably kind-of-serious legacy sequel.

Hey, Liam Neeson’s character is technically Frank Drebin’s son! It’s the same universe! This was a reboot that they tied into the original movies but then just did its own thing within the same comedic voice. That is to say, a bunch of dumb jokes, but delightful ones. Fortunately, “The Naked Gun” was really good, genuinely funny, and did well enough at the box office that we hopefully get more theatrical comedies.

Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc franchise is not the first to feature a crime solver dropped into new situations with whole new characters. However, there is a new movie in the franchise to celebrate in “Wake Up Dead Man.” Plus, while Daniel Craig’s Blanc is always front-and-center, he’s the never only one, and he doesn’t shoulder the load. There’s always an Ana de Armas or a Janelle Monae in the mix as a main character as well. Yes, Blanc is there, but beyond him the focal point always changes.