With positive reviews rolling in for Top Gun: Maverick, it may inspire studios to greenlight more sequels to 1980s properties. While 1986’s Top Gun was the highest-grossing film that year, much can change in thirty-six years. It will be interesting to track the film’s numbers upon its May 24th release date. The long-delayed project is accompanied by a tremendous amount of hope by major studios (and those holding onto the rights of other iconic retro properties) that its success will pave the way for revisiting more classics audiences will turn out for.

While conversations about sequels and reboots always seem to garner a mixed response, box office numbers typically favor known franchises over new ideas. 1986 also saw the release of Crocodile Dundee, Aliens, The Karate Kid Part II, and Star Trek IV, all of which have seen reboots, spinoffs, and sequels in recent years. However, there remains a large inventory of valuable properties that have yet to see a proper comeback that could prove to be successful.

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Another advantage some of these titles have is the sheer legacy value. Thirty-plus years is a long time for movies that may not have found their audience upon initial release. But over time, via television broadcast, video rental, and online communities, they are now considered classics, to which a sequel could potentially garner a significant response. Let’s examine some of these titles and speculate ways they could return.

Legends Can Be Now & Forever

     Universal Pictures

Five months prior to the 1986 release of Top Gun, another Tom Cruise film debuted to a lukewarm response. Ridley Scott’s troubled production of Legend was ridiculed by Siskel & Ebert as teen-targeted trash that threatened the very integrity of the moving image. They said the same thing about Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. If only the famous movie critics had lived to witness TikTok. Legend has gone on to be considered a classic in the realm of fantasy films, a genre that has exploded in recent decades.

While Legend doesn’t have the most complex writing, it is a stylistic masterpiece that everyone involved should be extremely proud of. Another installment in this particular fantasy world would certainly make waves. While Ridley Scott or Tom Cruise may or may not have any interest, the brand alone has a ton of value and could easily be mined for future franchise potential. Considering the unlimited story resources of an entire fantasy universe that Scott’s film implies, it’s easy to imagine countless narratives that could exist there.

Let Ferris Bueller’s Adventures Continue

     Paramount Pictures

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a John Hughes classic from 1986, is one of the most iconic films of the decade. The brand was revisited in recent ads for Honda and LiftMaster featuring Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck. If a proper sequel was penned and harnessed the energy of the Hughes classic film, it’s certainly possible a follow-up to Ferris Bueller could be conceived. Ironically, both this and Legend also starred Mia Sara. The most obvious spinoff would likely involve Bueller’s offspring, though an adventure with the gang in their retirement years could be hilarious if cleverly written. To date, the only John Hughes property that continues to regularly receive sequels is the Home Alone franchise.

Could Eddie Murphy Bring Back The Golden Child?

With Eddie Murphy bringing back his classic characters from Coming To America and Beverly Hills Cop, it is not inconceivable that The Golden Child could receive a sequel. While talk of Dwayne Johnson starring in a Big Trouble in Little China follow up has certainly made its rounds, The Golden Child was another well-received action-comedy entrenched in Eastern mysticism that genre fans remember fondly.

Again, playing in the realm of fantasy and magic, there are countless ways to dream up a new demonic threat that Chandler Jarrell would have to thwart. The film’s unique blend of urban action/comedy and Eastern fantasy fares well for contemporary film investment, much of which is coming from China. In order to tap back into the vibe of these classic movies, filmmakers would be wise to honor practical effects techniques and make careful decisions about music that summons the correct tone.

Wolfman’s (Still) Got Nards

     TriStar Pictures

Few films have snowballed into cult classics like 1987’s The Monster Squad. With built-in nostalgia from the 1950s and 1980s, a sequel to this beloved movie could be a huge success if executed right. With the film’s stars Andre Gower, Ryan Lambert, and Ashley Bank regularly appearing at conventions and screenings to celebrate the film’s fandom, there is clearly an insatiable crowd who would jump in line to get an opening night seat at the premiere of Monster Squad 2. Gower and Henry Darrow McComas explored the power of cult cinema in the 2018 documentary Wolfman’s Got Nards.

A Monster Squad sequel could easily take a cue from the successful Goosebumps franchise that manages to enlist every known horror icon into one story, bring back the classic five monsters, or even become self-referential like Gremlins 2 or the most recent Matrix installment. However it gets worked out, the squad’s return would be a welcome addition to the modern era’s obsession with all things nostalgic.