40 Films That Need Comic-Book Sequels

Blade Runner

The Film: Moody, mind-bendy sci-fi from Ridley Scott following burnt-out future cop (or ‘Blade Runner’) Deckard as he chases down superhuman beings (or ‘Replicants’).

The Comic-Book Continuation: What we want – more Blade Runners, more shifty Replicants and more neo-noir intrigue. What we don’t want – stuff set in space.

Essential Element: Rainy imagery and neon-blushed cityscapes. Is it too much to ask that each issue also comes with a Vangelis CD?

Kill Bill

The Film: Quentin Tarantino’s ode to Eastern movie violence, in which assassin The Bride faces down her former comrades in duels to the death.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Years after she killed Bill, The Bride’s daughter is now a teenager and showing an interest in offing bad guys for money – y’know, sticking to the family business. Will The Bride agree to train her?

Essential Element: Katanas. And wanton violence. And lots and lots of blood.

Zombieland

The Film: Stylish horror-comedy set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Here, the undead have taken over, leaving just a few living straddlers to fight for survival.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Each issue establishes a new rule for survival (a la the movie), and shows us how it works – or doesn’t. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) drive from town to town, encountering dead things and stuff. Think The Walking Dead . Only probably not quite as good.

Essential Element: Profanity. Tallahassee needs it to express himself.

District 9

The Film: Boundary-pushing sci-fi (er, literally) set in South Africa, where aliens have landed, and have been confined to poverty-stricken camps.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Alright, so Christopher managed to escape District 9, but what of those left behind? We want to see what happens in Districts 10 and 11. And there’s also the matter of what happens when Christopher returns with an alien army…

Essential Element: Authentic mis-spelled Afrikaans, just to give the comic a little more edge.

Inglourious Basterds

The Film: Jewish-American soldiers known as The Basterds strike terror in the heart of Hitler’s regime by taking out Nazis.

The Comic-Book Continuation: War! The Basterds’ adventures continue in comic form as they take on the Nazis in their own bloody way.

Ideally, we'd like it to play half boys own adventure, half propaganda parody.

Just like the movie, then.

Essential Element: Scalping. These bastards just love a good scalping.

Toy Story

The Film: CGI menagerie of playthings, following the adventures of Woody, Buzz and the gang as they get into all sorts of scrapes.

The Comic-Book Continuation: We’ve had two sequels and various shorts, but what about after those? We’re sure toys have more adventures than the ones we’ve seen – and we want to find out if Barbie and Ken ever have babies.

Essential Element: The ability to jerk a tear or two. Absolute must in the TSverse.

Inception

The Film: The mindfuck film of 2010, following a futuristic team who plant ideas into peoples’ minds while they’re sleeping. Led to lots of head-scratching.

The Comic-Book Continuation: More dreamweavers who are hired by yet more nefarious no-gooders.

With Dom Cobb out of action, we’re introduced to a new team of mind-benders who all have their own secret dreams to contend with.

Essential Element: To make it even more amazing than it already is, introduce a rival gang of dreamweavers who are constantly working to undo the jobs our lead team carry out.

Monsters

The Film: Tiny budget sci-fi with a big heart. A photographer attempts to get his boss’ daughter home safe after they land in Mexico together – where giant, destructive aliens are reigning supreme.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Let’s expand the focus to see what the global implications of the alien invasion are.

Essential Element: Alright, we’re going global, but key to Monsters was the personal approach.

So let’s follow a pair of siblings as they attempt to get home while dodging those towering ETs.

Let The Right One In

The Film: Gorgeous, poetic Swedish love story between a young boy and the vampire who moves in next door.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Oskar’s been saved by Eli in the school swimming pool as the film closes, but the comic has the pair hitting the road, wanted for murder.

Essential Element: That central relationship is the most fascinating part of LTROI , so exploring it to its fullest here is crucial.

Avatar

The Film: Dances With Aliens , in short. A planet called Pandora has been discovered, and human invaders want their natural resources. Cue bombing and screaming galore.

The Comic-Book Continuation: James Cameron’s big screen sequels will apparently explore Pandora’s oceans, so let’s go a different route – underground.

Essential Element: We’d be a bit lost without Pandora, though equally important would be the involvement of Sigourney Weaver’s Dr Grace. It'd be a crime to omit her.

And if Sigourney's recent comments are to be believe d, James Cameron feels the same way.

American Psycho

The Film: Adapted from Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, about a Wall Street yuppie who may or may not be a bloodthirsty murderer.

The Comic-Book Continuation: A dark, twisted delve into Patrick Bateman’s labyrinthine psyche, replete with killings by both blade and pen.

Essential Element: Lots of insight into Patrick’s on-going and increasingly insane beauty routines. We’re looking forward to when he starts using sandpaper as an exfoliator.

An entire issue devoted to the discography of Whitney Houston would be fun too. Maybe fun isn't the right word. Impressive?

Carrie

The Film: Brian De Palma’s mesmerising adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, following the titular little psychic.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Carrie’s dead by the end of the movie, but what if we followed her into the afterlife as she struggles to redeem her broken soul?

Essential Element: Soft-focus flashbacks and religious wrath. Note: these two things don’t have to be presented together.

Dark City

The Film: Amnesia-suffering John Murdock is accused of a murder that he’s sure he didn’t commit. He’s having a job convincing the police and a strange group known as the ‘Strangers’, though.

The Comic-Book Continuation: An exploration of the titular city and the hideous, strange (and sometimes hideously strange) things that take place there. Think Sin City with an Alex Proyas spin.

Essential Element: A colourful cast of miserable down-and-outs whose depraved lives add detail to Dark City’ s pages.

Leon

The Film: Revenge thriller in which young Mathilde is trained in the art of killing after her parents are offed.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Now a grown woman, Mathilde is working as an assassin in New York. They could even call it La Femme Mathilde.

Or if they decide to go for a franchise-clash along the lines of Alien Vs Predator or RoboCop Vs Terminator, perhaps they could exploit the Portman angle in a slightly different way. Leon Vs V, anyone?

Essential Element: Guns. And ammo. And guns.

Harry Potter

The Films: Following boy wizard Harry Potter and his chums as they battle against evil Lord Voldemort and his minions.

The Comic-Book Continuation: The eight-film franchise has come to an end, but continuing the story in comic form would be perfect.

Forget Harry and co’s kids, though, we want to see what happens in between Harry’s defeat of Voldemort and his eventual graduation to parent.

Essential Element: Snape! The best thing about the entire franchise. He could come back as a friendly, sneery ghost.

Jurassic Park

The Film: Triumphant adap of Michael Crichton’s tome, in which dinosaurs walk the Earth once more thanks to a little genetic engineering.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Dinosaurs are now all over the world, exhibited in zoos. But what happens when they begin to escape? Is it time for the extinction of Man?

Essential Element: It’d probably be a good idea to have a few dinosaurs in there.

Gremlins

The Film: Sinisterly funny black comedy about little creatures that cause destruction – and cackle a lot while doing so.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Forget the franchise-killing sequel.

Our comics pick up when Gizmo the Mogwai runs away from the shop he’s been kept in and beriends a young boy. Cue more mayhem.

Essential Element: A neverending string of evil deeds carried out by the gremlins. That’s what they’re best at, after all.

The Exorcist

The Film: Horror staple in which a young girl is possessed by the devil.

The Comic-Book Continuation: A dark and ominous series that follows Father Hammond as he helps various families escape the clutches of evil.

Think The X Files with the occasional devil cameo.

Essential Element: Pea-green puking and contortionism are a must, though anything to do with the devil is a no brainer.

The Howling

The Film: Tongue-in-cheek horror comedy in which a TV journalist escapes to a therapy camp in the middle of nowhere only to find it’s infested with werewolves.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Move over Twilight , this is where the real werewolves are. The Howling goes neo-noir, as a PI investigates a missing man, only to find he was a werewolf…

Essential Element: Duh, werewolves. Though vampires aren’t allowed; this is a Lycanthropes only club.

Source Code

The Film: Jake Gyllenhaal attempts to figure out what caused a train to explode by continually, uh, ‘leaping’ into another man’s body.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Imagine a comic book version of Quantum Leap , and you’re pretty much there.

Essential Element: Time-travelling and body-hopping. Like a comic book version of Quantum Leap . We love Quantum Leap .

Willow

The Film: George Lucas’ Hobbit homage following the evil Queen Bavmorda as she attempts to root out a child who - according to a prophecy - will bring about her downfall.

The Comic-Book Continuation: More adventures for the diminutive Nelwyns, as the unlikely heroes find themselves wrapped in forest-based fantasy and intrigue.

Essential Element: Fairies! And little people! And a really mean witch. Oh, and Val Kilmer. He's awesome in Willow .

The Neverending Story

The Film: High fantasy in which young Bastian escapes the monotony of his everyday life by reading a book called The Neverending Story – which comes to life before his very eyes.

The Comic-Book Continuation: A girl escapes her bullying cousins by hiding in her grandfather’s attic, and discovers an old dusty book called The Neverending Story . Soon she finds herself in Fantasia…

Essential Element: It’s never allowed to end. Ever. That would be cheating.

The Incredibles

The Film: Pixar’s ode to spy movies and superhero flicks, centring on the Parr family – who just so happen to have superpowers.

The Comic-Book Continuation: More adventures for the Parr family, as each week they tackle a new threat to the world – while attempting to keep their secret identities a secret.

Essential Element: Edna Mode. The Incredibles is just missing something without her.

Suspiria

The Film: Atmospheric horror from Dario Argento. An American ballet student travels to Italy, where she discovers that her dance school is home to a coven of witches.

The Comic-Book Continuation: A gothic exploration of witchcraft in modern day Italy, where the ballet school is the nexus for spooky paranormal activity.

Essential Element: Super-gory imagery and a lot of different colour palettes.

Whip It

The Film: Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, immersing viewers into a world of roller derby.

The Comic-Book Continuation: What happens when roller derby girls go up against ninjas? And gangsters? And people who don’t pay their TV licence? Here’s where we find out.

Essential Element: Hilarious movie-riffing names. Like Kill Jill. Or The Dark Christelle.

Home Alone

The Film: Eight-year-old nightmare nipper Kevin McAllister is left, yup, home alone when his family go off for a Christmas vacation – and forget to take him along.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Hilarious, teeth-smashing hi-jinks as Kevin uses his defence skills everywhere he goes – from beating up bullies in the playground, to getting revenge on the babysitter.

Essential Element: Uh, Kevin. He’s just so adorable.

Wall-E

The Film: Pixar again, this time exploring a possible future where humans have abandoned a trash-tip Earth. There, a lone robot – Wall-E – continues to clean up their mess.

The Comic-Book Continuation: What happens when people return to Earth? Let’s see how Wall-E helps the humans rebuild the planet. Meanwhile, a money-hungry tyrant attempts to derail their plans so that people have no choice but to live on his expensive offworld colony.

Essential Element: EVE has to be in there as well, naturally.

Unbreakable

The Film: M Night Shyamalan’s love letter to comic books. The sole survivor of a train wreck, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) discovers he’s almost superhuman.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Movie sequels fell by the wayside, but comics are the perfect place to continue Dunn’s self-discovery as other villains attempt to take him out.

Essential Element: Realism. The movie relied on it, and so would the comic.

Cocoon

The Film: Alien flick that doesn’t actually involve much invading (a novelty in the year 2011), as old people in a retirement home are rejuvenated by a mysterious alien lifeforce.

The Comic-Book Continuation: What’s life like on Antarea? We find out when the Cocoon aliens transport a young Earthling to their home world, where he attempts to fit in.

Essential Element: Floaty, ethereal imagery and some cool alien designs.

Critters

The Film: Cheeky B-movie that riffs on Alien as furry little menaces crash-land on Earth and begin to eat the population.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Critter invasion! The population of Earth comes under attack once more as the fluffy fiends take on the planet. Could a lonely exterminator be mankind’s unlikely saviour?

Essential Element: Wicked Critters with MASSIVE teeth. And a wicked sense of humour.

Pitch Black

The Film: Taut little sci-fi in which criminal Riddick attempts to keep the crew of a crashed spaceship alive after they touch down on a planet teeming with aliens.

The Comic-Book Continuation: More adventures with Riddick – except better than the lamentable Chronicles Of Riddick movie. We’re talking alien worlds and some serious ass-kicking.

Essential Element: Keep it simple. Riddick’s cool enough without a lot of mythological guff.

Poltergeist

The Film: Creepy supernatural horror. Young Carol Anne starts talking to the TV, signalling the arrival of vengeful ghosts.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Carol Anne is all grown up, but when her daughter starts talking to the radio she becomes concerned. Has a ghost from her past caught up with her?

Essential Element: Tangina! Poor old Zelda Rubinstein died last year, but she can live on in comic form.

The Thing

The Film: Paranoia-tinged chiller set in the Antarctic, where a research team become infected by a malevolent alien force.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Where did the aliens come from? What happens if they get out into the world? Imagine the biggest conspiracy story ever and you’re halfway there, as aliens infiltrate the population.

Essential Element: Creepy and crazy creature designs to freeze the blood.

Bubba Ho-Tep

The Film: Bruce Campbell plays Elvis, now living in a Texas nursing home. He ends up tussling with an Egyptian mummy.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Start off with Bubba Nosferatu: Curse Of The She-Vampires , the movie sequel that never got made and then continue with a series of ghoulish, Crypt Keeper- style tales.

Essential Element: Classic movie monsters, plus fun period cameos (Bubba meets Rocky? Oh yeah).

Eastern Promises

The Film: Gritty underworld crime saga. ‘Cleaner’ Nikolai Luzhin works getting rid of the messes created by the Semyon crime family.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Nikolai Luzhin is now boss of the Semyon empire, which means it’s time for a whole new saga to unfold.

Essential Element: Moody panels filled with dread. And plenty of tattoos.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Film: The last piece in the on-screen Jason Bourne puzzle.

The Comic-Book Continuation: We’re not getting anymore Matt Damon-led Bourne adventures in the cinema (for a while anyway), so let’s keep ‘em going in comic form. Faced with a new threat, Bourne races across the globe attempting to bring down the mysterious Red Eye...

Essential Element: Twisty narratives that give you headaches, but still keep you hooked. And a Bourne that is resolutely modelled after Matt Damon.

Pirates Of The Caribbean

The Films: A quartet of films starring Johnny Depp’s drunk-as-a-skunk Jack Sparrow as he takes to the high seas and fights mystical foes.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Comic-isations of Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End already exist, but let's make a proper go at a comic series (minus the bloated storytelling of the films). Jack’s already encountered mermaids, a Kraken and Davy Jones on the big screen, but there are loads of other nasties he could battle at sea.

Essential Element: Barbossa – he’s the straight man to Jack’s nutter.

Apocalypto

The Film: Gory but gripping historical epic set in the time of the Mayans, who sacrifice Mesoamerican tribesmen to their gods.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Jaguar Paw is back with his family in the forest, but that doesn’t mean they’re all safe.

He’s proven he can handle the Mayans, but what of the other terrors that wait in the jungle for him?

Essential Element: Subtitle-panels for those who can’t read the Yucatec Maya dialogue.

Brick

The Film: California student Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) investigates when his ex-girlfriend is found dead.

The Comic-Book Continuation: Teen noir in which Brendan turns his indomitable skills as a detective to all sorts of California crimes.

Essential Element: A dictionary at the front of every issue explaining Brendan’s kooky teen speak.

Scream

The Film: Post-modern slasher in which a movie-loving serial killer offs teenagers who can’t answer his twisted trivia.

The Comic-Book Continuation: This time, comics are under the knife.

Taking the self-referential approach of the Scream films, the Scream comic uses comic tropes to its advantage – characters know they’re in a comic, but will that stop them getting gutted?

Essential Element: Duh, Ghostface.