MovieChat Forums > The Breakfast Club (1985) Discussion > Could a sequel have worked?

Could a sequel have worked?


John Hughes wanted to do a sequel to The Breakfast Club in the 90s that would take place 10 years after the original film, but he and Judd Nelson had a falling out and as a result the movie never happened. What if the sequel had gotten made? Could the sequel have worked? or would the sequel have fallen flat like a lot of sequels often do?

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I think I recall Hughes saying that he'd want to do the sequel while they're in college. If it's 10 years later, how, why and where would they meet? Can you also give me a link for where Hughes said this?

The Before Trilogy did this. In Before Sunrise (1995), two young adults spend the day talking & connecting to each other. Then they don't see each other again until 9 years later in the sequel, Before Sunset.

I would watch a sequel to this in the 90's if it had been made. It could work, but it would be tricky. I think all the characters would change drastically in 10 years. I graduated from high school in 2014 and now I'm a different person. Not that different, but the real world does "imprint" you. You're so compliant while in school.

Bender and Allison probably didn't go to college. Brian, Claire and Andy (smart and preppy kids) did go to college and got degrees. It would be tough to reunite them in 10 years, since their paths are different.

Or maybe they all became close in contact after detention and even until their freshman year of college. They did pair off in couples except for Brian.

At the end of the day, this is probably like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where it's a one time kind of deal. You can't come back to it.

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Would have been good to see, pity Hughes never got around to making it. It could work today, as mentioned above they would all have taken different paths in life so they could do it with some sort of Facebook reunion weekend similar to The Big Chill (1983). As we know from the films, when characters graduate high school or leave for college they don't return home for 20-30 years.

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Oh, yeah. High school reunions are a thing. That's how they could do it. My friend went to their (either) 10th or 15th anniversary high school graduation last year. That would be the most fitting way for them to see each other again.

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In the 1997 "Women in Hollywood" issue of Premiere, Molly Ringwald participated in an article called Future Shock: What would your most famous character be doing in a sequel? where she talked about Claire: "I think she might be a personal shopper working for a large department store chain. Actually, no one knows that Claire was a power shopper, because John Hughes cut out the part about how she gets detention: She ditches school to go shopping."

Sounds like John Hughes may have originally wanted Molly to be in Career Opportunities.

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I can see Molly Ringwald's character going to college and really finding herself. Maybe going into an altruistic career.

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I don't know what movie Molly Ringwald saw, but in the version I saw it's mentioned that she skipped school to go shopping.


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I think she meant that there was an actual scene where she went shopping. Perhaps it was going to be a pre-title scene.

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Oh okay, didn't think of that! I've seen the film many times and I remember Claire's father saying that she shouldn't have ditched school to go shopping.

I can understand why a pre-title scene would be cut. The film starts with all of them arriving for detention. The audience didn't need to see what happened before.

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I don't think Career Opportunities would have been the same with Molly at least as the film ended up being. Molly was hot in her own way but Jennifer Connolly was just so much more. I also can't see Molly straddling that hobby horse at all!

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Molly was hot enough to be considered for the role of the titular hooker in Pretty Woman.

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She's better looking than Julia Roberts.

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Much better looking.

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Would it have been called The Lunch Club?

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Perhaps The Brunch Club.

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I doubt Bender did brunch.

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I see a main issue being that 10 years later, the original stars' careers had pretty much faded. Waiting 20 or more years may have added some nostalgic interest.

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What reason would any of these people have for meeting up with one another 10 years later?

The only sequel that would have worked is one that was made within a year of the original, and featured the same players back in detention.

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What reason would any of these people have for meeting up with one another 10 years later?


High school reunion.

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I can't see Bender or Alison choosing to attend such a thing.

Also, high school reunions always strike me as a very contrived and overused trope. Maybe it's because I'm from the UK, but I don't know anyone who ever attended such a thing.

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I'm from the UK too, and Facebook in its heyday was the closest thing to it.

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Unfortunately, due to my family circumstances, I bounced a bit from town to town, and thus school to school. Plus, things at my last proper school didn't end well. So, even if my schools has a school reunion, I doubt I'd have attended. Fortunately, I made good friends at sixth form college, and over 20 years later, we're still friends today.

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Bender and Alison would only attend if they felt they made something of themselves and wanted to shove it in everyone's faces. Kind of like Janis Joplin attending her 10th High School reunion.

When Facebook was still new I looked up my old high school and some people on it. Some of the classes did have reunions. I never felt any warmth towards the school or most of the people there so the idea of meeting up with them again would not be exciting for me.

It does seem like more of an American thing to me too, I'm Australian.

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It would have either have been a completely different movie which would have nothing to do with the original other than the same characters. Or it would have had completely different characters in the detention. And a 10-year span wouldn't have been enough for the kids to be offspring of the original characters unless it was elementary school detention.

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I agree, I can't see how it would work. What reason would this group have to still be seeing each other years on? I don't think any of them would have spoken to each other after the detention. Bender and Claire might still have some sneaky sex sessions but that would be about it.

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