Direct to DVD Sequel Plots Revealed!

The REAL Grease 2: This kind of awesomely bad badness will never be topped.

MTV Movies talked to Louis Feola, head of Paramount Famous, the studio’s unit dedicated to making direct to DVD sequels to hit movies. He explained how he decides which films get DVD sequels.

“I tend to look at properties as brands and try and figure out the essence of the brand. What comes first is an analysis of the property by trying to figure out what the brand is, and the story follows from there.”

Needless to say, this idea of movies as brands with story coming second has upset some people, one such example being found here. In reality, of course, just about everyone in Hollywood views a movie as a potential brand with story coming second. Again, the movie business is about money, not art. When art happens, it’s a bloody miracle, and we should all fall on our knees and give prayers of thanks. And if you can get art and profit from the same movie, well, then you’ve hit on something precious that others will try to imitate in increasingly horrifying ways.

Feola further expounds on his feelings about straight to DVD’s bad rap:

“[The idea that direct-to-DVD entertainment is bad] is based on reality, to a degree, but it’s also a very old point of view,” he said. “In people’s minds they still put it in [the dumping ground], but it’s actually not, if you look at the quality level of production.

“Most of the time these people are talking in a vacuum,” he continued. “They haven’t actually seen anything that’s been made yet and they just automatically presume that it’s not going to be a great experience. It is a judgment that many times was gotten without any evidence. They just assume it’s going to be a bad movie,” Feola continued. “Having said that, the business at retail, that’s about $2.5 to $3 billion in the U.S. So someone is having a good time … go back and look at ‘American Pie: Band Camp,’ and ‘American Pie: Naked Mile,’ and you look at ‘Bring It on Again,’ or ‘Bring It On: All or Nothing,’ and you look at the animation movies, the ‘Land Before Time’s — those are pretty good experiences as a viewer. And the telling tale there is, I think, if they don’t work then you don’t keep making them. Someone is having a good time.”

Yes, what is more fun than the fifteenth iteration of Bring It On, with performers fifteen generations away from star quality or talent?

First in line for the the direct to DVD sequel treatment is Without a Paddle: Nature’s Calling in early 2009. Sequels to Grease, Bad News Bears, Naked Gun, Mean Girls and Road Trip will follow (um, they know there’s already been a sequel to Grease, and several to The Bad News Bears and Naked Gun, right?).  Feola said that part of the plan for making these high quality will be including talent from the original. For example, he suggested that Tina Fey will be involved in the Mean Girls sequel. I’m guessing not.

Here is some plot information for the upcoming sequels, from the MTV Movies Blog:

“Road Trip”

“Well, I am in preproduction right now, so I have a script that I am comfortable with, hired my director and set up my operation,” Feola said. ” ‘Road Trip 2? will take place against the world of beer pong, which I think is a very topical subject for our TV audience.”

Of course it will involve beer pong. Was there any doubt?

“Naked Gun”

“ ‘Naked Gun’ is about corruption in the city,” Feola said. “A new [younger] police squad is being formed to battle the corruption.”

So does this mean no Leslie Nielsen? If he’s not in it, what’s the point?

“Bad News Bears”

“ ‘Bad News Bears’ is set against the world of soccer,” he said.

“Against”? So is it baseball vs. soccer? 

“Grease”

No story details are available just yet, but Feola promised it’ll be a musical where the songs function as an integral part of the plot.

“It’s a little tricky,” he said. “I have a background in animation and I have done a lot of stories in animation where the songs drive the plot line. That’s a really tricky writing assignment, so ideally you would have a script writer who is also a songwriter, because it’s not just a song during the movie — it’s a song that drives the plot line. That’s the way we are envisioning it.”

Aaahhh, someone took Intro to Musical Theater.

“Mean Girls” is too early in development for him to be able to offer up even a logline, Feola said.

 I’m guessing it will involve someone fighting back against the tyranny of a clique of bitchy girls.

Well, I’m not looking forward to any of these. I think I’ll go watch Naked Gun III now.