‘The Fighter 2′ (Really) and Other Best Picture Sequels

Mark Wahlberg told Extra on the 2011 Oscar red carpet that a sequel to the Best Picture-nominated film The Fighter is up for discussion. It’s not the stupidest idea ever, really: the first film focused on the rise of Massachusetts palooka “Irish” Micky Ward (Wahlberg), but stopped short of his crowning achievement: three, streetfight-style brawls with Arturo Gatti that ended with Gatti winning the series.

Wahlberg says The Fighter 2, if it happens, would focus on these fights. “[We’re gonna] make it real,” he says. Check below for a taste of what he’s talking about. More after the jump:

I’m sold. Director David O. Russell did a great job staging the bouts in The Fighter, so I can’t wait to see what he (or whoever steps in for him) would do with iconic fights like these.

But why stop there, Hollywood? There were 10 Best Picture nominees, right? That’s TEN sequels you can churn out instead of just one. Good God, think of the possibilities. To help the ball get started, we (I) at Fame Hype have thought up pitches for Part 2’s to some of the other BP nominees. No need to thank me. Just remember to give me a “story by” credit.

Oh, almost forgot. A big ol’ SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t seen any of the nominees. Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.

Truer Grit

What’s Left to Tell: While True Grit offers plot resolution for Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), the fate of the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) is left up in the air.

The Premise: LaBoeuf is demoted within the Texas Rangers after he fails to bring Tom Cheney (Josh Brolin) back alive. He’s assigned a desk job, where his partner is a trigger happy simpleton played by Ben Affleck. LaBoeuf eventually goes rogue to find and kill Rooster and Mattie Ross, and Affleck is assigned the task of hunting him down.

The Grand Finale: Affleck chases Damon to the edge of a cliff and holds him at gunpoint. After a lengthy back and forth (“you gonna shoot me, boy?” “YOU WERE MY HERO!!!”) Affleck finally throws down his guns and makes love to Damon in the hot Texas sun a la Brokeback Mountain. It’s about time we had a Damon-Affleck gay love scene, don’t ya think?

The SMS Social Network

What’s Left to Tell: We get it, Facebook is awesome. Now, let’s talk Twitter. #sequelpitch

The Premise: Set parallel to Mark Zuckerberg’s tumultuous rise to riches, we meet a humble nerd named Jack Dorsey who envisions a way to perfect the short-message style of communication. Key exchange for the trailer is as follows: Dorsey’s lackey #1: “AOL already did this with Instant Messaging.” Dorsey’s lackey #2: “Plus, people get this every day with texting.” Dorsey’s Lackey #3: “I think we might have missed the boat here, Jack.” Dorsey: (slams papers across his desk). “THERE IS A BETTER WAY!!” Plus, we get at least one training montage where Dorsey lays into a heavy bag with Zuckerberg’s picture duct-taped to the front and Survivor singing the theme song (their first recording with the original lineup since 1982) over the soundtrack.

The Grand Finale: A tense meeting with Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg in a cameo) where the latter size each other up and eventually offer an uneasy truce that allows folks to post their Tweets on Facebook. Zuckerberg says to Dorsey: “You will lose.” Dorsey replies: “I must break you.” The film ends with Zuckerberg ominously signing up for a Twitter account, signaling a changing of the guard in social networking.

Before the King’s Speech

What’s Left to Tell: King George (Colin Firth) glosses over his traumatic childhood in his sessions with Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Now let’s see more of it.

The Premise: Princes Albert (James McAvoy, playing a young Firth) and David (keep Guy Pearce, because that dude doesn’t get nearly enough work these days) rise through adulthood as sons of the King (Michael Gambon still). We move through Bertie’s childhood experiences with his abusive nanny (Meryl Streep) and the braces that corrected his knobbed knees, on through his and David’s teenage years, where they plowed through every willing wench in the Kingdom.

The Grand Finale: The adult Bertie (now Firth again) marries Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) and, after their wedding night, takes a leisurely through London the next morning. He opens his paper and flips straight past an advert for Lionel Logue’s speech therapy and lays eyes on a radio microphone for the first time ever in a store window. He glances longingly, meaningly, fearfully at it, and….scene.

Toy Story 4

What’s Left to Tell: They made it through three of these things. You’re telling me they can’t milk a fourth?

The Premise: A crazy Internet conspiracy theorist discovers the toys are alive and ignites a government investigation. Woody and Co. (voiced by the same people, although contract disputes will force Pixar to replace Tim Allen with The Rock) come out to their owner and join and Underground Railroad of toys, led by a radical Darth Vader toy hellbent on world domination. The toys are eventually found and rescued once again by Andy, who is now a 34-year-old man with kids of his own.

The Grand Finale: Not sure yet, but judging from the last one, it’ll probably be some ungodly thing that makes grown men openly weep.