Sequel Saturday: Fall Into Sequels For 2015, by Mat Bradley-Tschirgi

August is nearing an end. Fall is about to begin followed by the earliest tinges of winter. Sounds like a perfect time to grab a cup of your favorite tea (Russian Caravan is a personal favorite) and take a look at the upcoming sequels of interest waiting for us the rest of the year.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials – The original Maze Runner was a surprise hit in the burgeoning genre of post-apocalyptic young adult dramas with muted violence, coquettish romance, and anti-establishmentarianism. Can this duology sprint its way into a full-fledged franchise? I’m mildly curious to check out the first after enjoying similar genre fare Divergent more than I care to admit.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – The presumably exciting finale to the Hunger Games quadrilogy comes out this November. I found The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 to be a lot of build up with no pay-off, a How Katniss Got Her Groove Back of sorts. My favorite part of this series continues to be campier performances from Donald Sutherland and Elizabeth Banks in their supporting roles.

Spectre – Daniel Craig returns as 007 for the fourth time. Christoph Waltz is the baddie. It shall be tough to top Skyfall, but we’ll be in good hands with Sam Mendes back at the helm. Perhaps a bit more humor will creep in and give audiences a license to laugh.

Creed – For the first time (!!), Rocky gets a spin-off detailing the exploits of the late Apollo Creed’s son Adonis. A strong cast with Michael B. Jordan in the lead and Sylvester Stallone reprising his role as Rocky Balboa (this time as a trainer with shades of  his role in Rocky V). I wonder if we’ll get a cameo from Carl Weathers?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – In the seventh episode in the live-action theatrical Star Wars saga, we’ll get to see the return of old faces along with the debut of several newbies. J.J. Abrams as director promises to bring a more vivid pacing than George Lucas did to the turgid prequel trilogy. I’m hoping we get a narrative with some meat to the bones along with the “fun ride” experience all the space battles and lightsaber duels will bring. Keeping my lightsabers crossed on this one.