Second Takes: Critical Approaches to the Film Sequel (SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema)

The first collection of essays devoted to the phenomenon of the film sequel.

Sequels, serials, and remakes have been a staple of cinema since the very beginning, and recent years have seen the emergence of dynamic and progressive variations of these multi-film franchises. Taking a broad range of sequels as case studies, from the Godfather movies to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Second Takes confronts the complications posed by film sequels and their aftermaths, proposing new critical approaches to what has become a dominant industrial mode of Hollywood cinema. The contributors explore the sequel’s investments in repetition, difference, continuation, and retroactivity, and particularly those attitudes and approaches toward the sequel that hold it up as a kind of figurehead of Hollywood’s commercial imperatives. An invaluable resource to the film student, critic, and fan, Second Takes offers new ways of looking at the film sequel’s industrial, aesthetic, cultural, political, and theoretical contexts.

“…engage[s] with the sequel in a wide range of national and historical contexts.” — Scope

“…Second Takes is the first essay collection exploring the trend of sequelization and multi-film franchises in contemporary cinema and an excellent and valuable addition to the slowly growing field of academic research on sequels, series, and remakes.” — Screening the Past

“A comprehensive and adventurous exploration of a timely topic.” — Wheeler Winston Dixon, author of Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia