The sequels, reboots, and reimaginings of 2024 that are worthwhile

We’ll start with TV, because there are only a handful of these. Film-to-TV adaptations would also fall into this media space, but “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” is also a reimagining of the original film. That movie is “What if you were secretly an assassin, and also so was your spouse?” The TV adaptation stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as two wayward people who are recruited to pretend to be a married couple for the purposes of performing espionage. It has as much to do with “The Americans” as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

Twenty-five years later, we’re running it back. “X-Men ‘97” is a modern continuation of the popular ‘90s cartoon of the X-Men, the one that introduced basically every Millennial to the characters (and probably some Gen Xers too). This Disney+ show picks up where “X-Men” left off, mixing retro flair and new ideas with gusto.

This one barely counts, and honestly “Matlock” annoys us a bit. It’s a Trojan Horse of a reboot. It turns out, and this is a spoiler, Kathy Bates’ character is not really named Matlock, and she has infiltrated a law firm she believes is responsible for her daughter’s death. She merely adopted the name and folksy manner of Andy Griffith’s lawyer character. We were sold “Matlock” and didn’t get “Matlock,” but setting that aside at least the show has some verve to it (and an Oscar winner as the lead).

“What if it was a cartoon this time?” Yeah, that’s a well that has been done plenty as well. The latest addition to that list is “Everybody Still Hates Chris.” Doing the show as a live-action sitcom may no longer be viable, but it can work well in the animation space. Also, “Everybody Still Hates Chris” is a Comedy Central show, and so we learned that Comedy Central does still have original shows beyond “The Daily Show” and “South Park.”

“What if it was a musical this time?” We break into the film space with a reimagining of a massively-popular 2000s film. “Mean Girls,” the original, was so popular it was turned into a Broadway musical. That musical has now, in turn, been adapted to the big screen. Hey, Tina Fey (and Tim Meadows) are getting paid, so it’s all good.

Before we continue into the film list further, one quick note. You will not be seeing “Twisters” on this list. Oh, “Twisters” is quite good, as good as anything on this list. It also is not a reboot or a sequel. Truly, it’s just a movie about tornados that is drafting off the existence of a movie called “Twister.” That doesn’t count. You might argue that “Dune: Part Two” doesn’t count either, considering it a second part as opposed to a sequel. Well, it was a good movie, and that’s more than we can say about a lot of movies in this space. It may be more of a direct continuation, but isn’t that what, say, “The Lord of the Rings” or “Harry Potter” movies do?

The new “Road House” is a better movie than the original, but it is not as enjoyable to watch. Patrick Swayze’s cult classic is wonderfully stupid. It’s cheesy and ridiculous and you can laugh and smile all the way through it. Jake Gyllenhaal’s “Road House” captures some of that, with intent, but is just more competent. It makes for a perfectly-solid action movie, but not for a future cult movie.

Now this? This is a movie that brings the wonderfully stupid. The day the Godzilla and Kong-verse steered into the “Kong bows to no one” vibe it found its voice. “The New Empire” makes no sense. Dan Stevens is chewing every ounce of scenery. Kong is reimagined as a Jim Rockford-esque put-upon hero. It’s a bunch of giant monsters and a ton of goofiness and that makes for a fun watch.

David Leitch has directed “Deadpool 2,” “Hobbs & Shaw,” and “Bullet Train.” He can be a bit much. There’s always some stretch of time in his movies where you say to yourself, “Okay, cool it for a few minutes.” Fortunately, “The Fall Guy” has limited stretches of that ilk, and it proved a fine vehicle for Ryan Gosling. Plus, Hannah Waddingham is a lot of fun in the movie, which was nice to see after the woeful third season of “Ted Lasso” squandered her.

Commercially, “Furiosa” was a flop. Critically, it’s not quite on the level of “Fury Road.” That’s not really a fair level to hold a movie to, though. “Fury Road” is a popular pick for the best action movie of the new millennium. “Furiosa” is not that, but it frankly brings more to the table than any of the original three “Mad Max” movies.

Sometimes you just have to admit you like seeing the band get back together. There’s Eddie Murphy with Judge Reinhold and Paul Reiser and Bronson Pinchot. Seeing Murphy getting to play Axel Foley again after all those years in the wilderness feels cool. Also, the movie is totally fine, and it’s decidedly better than “Beverly Hill Cops III.” If nothing else, “Axel F” means that is no longer the last film in this franchise, and that’s a good thing.

Try and argue with this kind of success. Would the interest be there for the sequel to “Inside Out” after almost a decade? Um, well, it made $1.7 billion dollars. It’s going to be the highest-grossing film of 2024. Also? The reviews were really good. “Inside Out 2” was no cheap cash-in sequel. If that was going to be the case, they wouldn’t have waited so long to make it.

“Romulus” goes back to the old “Alien” formula. For a couple movies Ridley Scott was back at it doing his own thing with “Prometheus” and “Covenant.” Before that, though, different directors got their chance to work in the “Alien” space. “Romulus” comes to us from Fede Alvarez, who directed that nasty 2013 remake of “Evil Dead” and the sneakily-nasty “Don’t Breathe.” Which is to say that, yeah, “Romulus” is a nasty horror movie, but Ridley Scott would probably approve of that.

As a movie, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is pretty good. It doesn’t all hold together, but it was fun to see Michael Keaton cooking as the ghost with the most and to see Winona Ryder starring in a movie again. Catherine O’Hara is just playing Moira Rose but we never quibble with seeing her on our screen. To the movie’s credit, though, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” doesn’t feel lazy. It’s actually overstuffed with ideas, but Tim Burton had something he wanted to do, and that’s worth commending in the modern movie landscape.

Speaking of Ridley Scott, he’s in his late eighties and has released four movies in the last five years. Choosing a “defining” movie for him is tough, but many might argue for 2000’s “Gladiator,” since it won Best Picture at the Oscars. Scott had been wanting to make a sequel for a while, and he finally got a chance to do it. Once again, he’s made a sword-and-sandals movie that is a hit, and Denzel Washington has gotten a lot of love for his turn in “Gladiator II.”

Maybe Dwayne Johnson can’t find success in the live-action space, and “Red One” is best to be ignored and/or forgotten, but Disney is still there for him. “Moana” was a massive hit, and “Moana 2” has followed suit. Will the songs prove as sticky? Will the sequel be seen as being on equal footing as the original? That’s to be seen, but for now, it’s already justified its existence, and that’s even rarer in animated sequels than in live-action offerings.