![]() Its same-day, coast-to-coast rollout was both unique and hugely successful. But the excitement generated by the first movie turned the release of “The Trial of Billy Jack” into a nationwide event. Billy eventually gets out of jail and once again comes to the defense of a Native American getting kicked around by local rednecks. It’s a paean to the grassroots Nader’s Raiders ethos, which makes it feel one very long promotional reel for Laughlin’s endeavors in the Southwest U.S. This 170-minute jumble of good intentions finds Billy Jack’s Freedom School carrying on in his absence (after he’s sent to jail for involuntary manslaughter due to the āss-whuppin’ events of the previous movie). His four Billy Jack movies are sincere indictments of bigotry and corruption, and he vehemently believed in the transformative power of cinema as a means of combating these ills. There is little doubt that the eventual Avatar sequels will see not just the return of Sam Worthington but Zoe Saldana as well.Tom Laughlin was a good man. The Marvel films have mostly continued this positive trend, with Tony Stark's relationship with Pepper Potts extending towards three Iron Man movies and one Avengers film and Natalie Portman returning for at least the first Thor sequel. Sequels became less like the stand-alone Indiana Jones movies and more like the intertwined Star Wars films. That meant we got three Spider-Man films co-starring Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, three Pirates of the Caribbean films with Keira Knightley, and three Matrix films starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. ![]() Starting in 2001, with Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, and (over the next two years) Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean, we started seeing explicitly connected sagas where basically everyone came back. Now there is one exception to this periodic rule, and that's the one solid part of the current "everything must be a connected serial" trend. It was all-but-preordained that Linda Fiorentino would not return for Men in Black II, that Courtney Cox would not return for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls or that Cody Horn would not return for Magic Mike XXL. Even the narrative continuity of the first film was not enough to justify swapping out one attractive young woman for another the second time out, as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Ted 2 prove. And Speed 2 kept Sandra Bullock and replaced an unwilling Keanu Reeves with Jason Patric. But it remains a pleasant surprise when the female lead of a male-centric hit makes a return visit. Rene Russo was in Lethal Weapon 3 and Lethal Weapon 4. Megan Fox would have made it through three Transformers movies instead of just two had Steven Spielberg not allegedly taken offense at her jokingly comparing Michael Bay to Hitler. Seyfried's role as an attorney could have existed as is without a romantic element. But that didn't necessarily require replacing her with a shiny new love interest for Mark Wahlberg in the form of Amanda Seyfried. Yes, Mila Kunis was apparently pregnant during the filming of Ted 2. ![]() Yes, I am aware of the irony in regards to Hangover II and Austin Powers 2. Yet when the sequel came around, Mila Kunis, Elizabeth Hurley, and Heather Graham were discarded for newer models. The original films built their first movies partially around a lead male character becoming mature enough to win the hand of the respective female lead. Ted 2 committed the same crime as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and The Hangover part II. It would be unthinkable for 22 Jump Street to proceed without Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, but Brie Larson not returning was accepted without a second glance, with Jonah Hill trading her in for Amber Stevens West. Even when the film somewhat revolves around a central romance as its primary narrative function ( Mission: Impossible II and Mission: Impossible III), the next chapters forget about the prior relationship or shapes themselves into narrative pretzels in order to justify said character's exclusion this time around. The likes of Indiana Jones, the Mission: Impossible series, and the original Batman series had a new hot female love interest each time out. The 007 franchise is infamous for its interchangeable female leads, and it's hardly fair to pick on that series due to its 50+ years of tradition. The most obvious examples are the stand-alone adventure franchises. When a male-centric movie does well and spawns a sequel, it is all-but-certain that the male lead returns, but it is not always a guarantee that the female lead will return.
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