Does a Ferris Bueller sequel make sense?

Written by on June 15, 2011

There has been some buzz for a while about the potential of a sequel to the iconic 80s movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” but a recent entry on screenwriter Rick Rapier‘s Twitter page raised the volume:

“Wish I could tweet names of ppl reading my #FerrisBueller sequel. Your jaw would drop. I’m stoked! Plz keep a good thot.”
.”

IN 2007, the “Stuck in the 80s” blog’s Steve Spears was given the full script by Rapier and revealed that the tentatively-titled “Ferris Bueller 2: Another Day Off” would have Bueller as a motivational speaker, Cameron as his business manager, Sloane as an actress in a bad marriage and Ferris’ sister married to the delinquent she met at the police station (played by Charlie Sheen). While those seem to play well into the idea of a mid-life crisis story, Rapier might want to think twice about having Bueller’s former high school administrator Edward Rooney as the antagonist who has some kind of long-suppressed need for revenge. That might turn an interesting idea into a gag sequel, which only works for sequels similar to those made for the Police Academy franchise.

This is not a new idea; Broderick and the late John Hughes had thrown around ideas for a sequel in the past. Judging form his tweets, Rapier seems optimistic about the idea of a Ferris 2 movie. Still, without John Hughes here to direct it, might fans shy away form paying movie theater prices to see it? Will anyone care if Charlie Sheen plays Ferris’ brother-in-law or not? Who can Cameron really take a stand against at 40 and working for his best friend? Will movie-goers see past the fact that as a self-employed motivational speaker, Ferris can pretty much take any day off that he wants without consequence?

A sequel to “Ferris Bueler’s Day Off” might be a chance for many of us to fondly remember the movie through the character’s new hijinks (as long as the original actors return to reprise their roles). Many of us might be curious about how Ferris, Cameron and other Hughes movie favorites like Samantha Baker, Long Duk-Dong and John Bender turned out as adults. Conversely, “Another Day Off” could turn into a run-of-the-mill “middle-aged-buddies-do-silly-things-for-a-short-period-of-time flick or, worse, turn out to be as disastrous as the TV series named after the popular picture.


Reader's opinions
  1. Rick Rapier   On   June 15, 2011 at 6:41 pm

    I understand your reservations. As a huge fan of John Hughes and Ferris in particular, I would hate to see a sequel that doesn’t do either justice. The good news is that everyone who has read my sequel agrees that it does, from rabid Ferris fans who loathed the idea of any sequel, to dubious producers who were happily proven wrong. If you’d like to know more about what motivated me to write it, check out Casey Ryan’s Cutting Room Floor interview with me:
    http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-81947/TS-412809.mp3

  2. admin   On   June 16, 2011 at 4:40 am

    Rick,
    I, as many Bueller fans do, would want to see a strong sequel. Still, cinema history shows that for every Godfather II there are plenty of “Blues Brothers 2000s.” Hence the skepticism amongst many.
    Still, there is that curiosity about how Ferris and the rest of the cast turned out as adults… interestingly, sometimes while the power is out at 3am and I am still awake, I would wonder how some of my favorite wise-guy teen characters might work in a movie centered around them in their 40s…

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