For the record, the title of this blog is meant to be a rhetorical question, because I already know the answer of why they’re doing it. They’re doing it because, according to Box Office Mojo, the first film only cost $35 million to make and it earned over $117 million. So, BOOM! There ya go. The studio’s thought is: hey it worked once, so let’s do it again!

Now I know this is the part where I’m supposed to rant for a couple of paragraphs about how unoriginal Hollywood is, how the studios just keep recycling old ideas, and that’s why we get a seemingly endless stream of sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, reimagining’s, etc. But I’m not going to do that.

I mean, it’s true, but I’m not going to write about that.

I don’t personally have any inherent problem with sequels, as should be obvious due to my recent posts about ROCKY and the HALLOWEEN films. Some of my favorite films are sequels or parts of a franchise. My problems is strictly with the idea of making a sequel to this particular film (warning, spoilers for the first film are coming).

I loved the first Horrible Bosses, I own the DVD and have watched it several times. But it was a complete done-in-one story. The storylines for each of the individual characters were pretty neatly wrapped up at the end. Sure, they threw in little hints for potential conflict with Nick and Kurt and each of their new bosses, but it didn’t feel like that was a set-up for a sequel. And it would be too implausible to think that these guys would go through this whole thing again, and try to hatch a plan to kill their new bosses, after almost getting arrested for murder last time (after Nick’s boss killed Kurt’s boss and then tried to frame them for it). Like, is that the only solution they can ever think of each time they get a boss that they don’t like? Kill him? Heck, I’ve had a few bosses I didn’t like, but if I just killed them all, I’d be on Death Row right now. Plus there’s the fact that while plotting the murders we saw Nick and Dale eventually decide that they couldn’t actually go through with it, so we know that they’re not really killers. So this is why I was surprised when I read last month that a sequel is in production, scheduled for release Thanksgiving 2014, but that the remaining cast from the first film, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Anniston and Jamie Foxx are all signed on for it.

See, if they wanted to capitalize on the success of the first film, I would maybe consider making a sequel that’s more of a spin-off, with a mostly new cast. Do a gender-swap, and have it be about 3 female friends who hate their bosses and decide to kill them. And hire three funny actresses to star in it. If I recall correctly, the character of Dale mentioned having some sisters in the first film, so that’s how you connect the two films. Have one of the leads be Dale’s sister. Charlie Day can cameo in the film, as she talks to her brother about the problem and he tells her all about what he and his friends went through, thinking that will convince her not to do it. Instead, she’s inspired by his story, and tracks down Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx again), to get his advice on how she and her friends can pull this off. And there you have it, an easy premise for a new film, instead of a cheap retread of the first one.

Of course, it’s likely I’m judging this too harshly, Horrible Bosses 2 may turn out to be just as good or even better than the first film. I believe that’s unlikely, but it is possible. I guess we’ll see. If the trailers look funny, I’ll check it out when it’s released.

UPDATE JULY 1, 2014: And here is the first trailer for Horrible Bosses 2. It looks like instead of murder this time they’re plotting some kind of kidnapping. Warning, this trailer is NSFW due to some vulgar language.

And, boy, does that look very very unfunny. So far, no interest in seeing this.