Preview Hello, Mary Lou: 2011 Summer Movie Preview Part 2

Yesterday, the first half of our annual Summer Movie Preview covered May through mid-July in a summer drowning in sequels, remakes, reboots, adaptations, and other low-hanging cinematic fruit. Today, we wrap up our guide to Sequel Summer by continuing to suggest that every film released this season should have its own follow-up, even if it’s already a follow-up itself.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (July 15)
What it’s about: Picking up where the half-complete adaptation of the final Harry Potter book left off, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 concludes the series with Harry, Ron, and Hermione returning to Hogwarts for a thrilling, special-effects-filled confrontation with Lord Voldemort. 
Why a sequel is essential: Each of the seven—and now eight—Harry Potter movies has made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, and that’s without factoring in the endless stream of ancillary revenue brought in by home-viewing and franchising rights. So what if J.K. Rowling stopped at seven books and the cast has aged out of the roles? This is a license to print money. 
Possible sequel: Harry Potter And The Dastardly Daycare: Part 1. Not a prequel, but a reboot, which allows for a new, less expensive cast and the opportunity to extend the series by starting the franchise much, much earlier. Because of child-labor laws, 4-year-old versions of Harry, Ron, and Hermione will all be realized via creepy motion-capture technology, though Imelda Staunton will reprise her role as the evil teacher Dolores Umbridge, who threatens to turn Pajama Day into an eternal nap. 

Winnie The Pooh (July 15)

What it’s about: Walt Disney Studios returns to the popular children’s books of A.A. Milne and to traditional cel animation in this adaptation of a pair of classic Pooh stories (“In Which Eeyore Loses His Tail, And Pooh Finds One” and “In Which Rabbit Has A Busy Day, And We Learn What Christopher Robin Does In The Mornings”).
Why a sequel is essential: In keeping with John Lasseter’s predilection for Toy Story-style emotional gut-punches, don’t we need a Pooh movie that ends with Christopher Robin growing up and leaving his friends behind? (“In Which Christopher Robin And Pooh Come To An Enchanted Place, And We Leave Them There,” perhaps?)
Possible sequel: The House At Pooh Corner—not an adaptation of the second collection of Pooh stories, but a feature-length video of the Kenny Loggins song. (Everybody: “But I’ve wandered much further today than I should / And I can’t seem to find my way back to the wood…”)

Captain America: The First Avenger  (July 22)

What it’s about: Poor Steve Rogers (Chris Evans): He’s too scrawny to fight the Nazis like a good, patriotic American ought. But once he’s given a secret super-soldier formula, he discovers he can fight the fuck out of the Nazis and then some as Captain America.
Why a sequel is essential: The answer is right there in the subtitle: Captain America: The First Avenger is another piece of Marvel’s movie-universe puzzle leading up to the release of the superteam movie The Avengers next year. But that doesn’t preclude Cap from starring in sequels all by himself, either. 
Possible sequel: We’re pretty sure that Marvel has published a few other Captain America stories over the years that could also be turned into movies. Our vote is for Captain America: MODOK Awaits, because a movie in which Cap fights a giant, grinning head whose name is an acronym for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing could only be awesome.

Friends With Benefits (July 22)

What it’s about: Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman star as commitment-phobic young people who agree to be fuck-buddies, but find trouble when deeper feelings complicate their arrangement. Oh sorry, that’s No Strings Attached. Okay, same thing, but with Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. 
Why a sequel is essential: Because the astounding insight that sex between friends causes problems cannot be overstated. 
Possible sequel: Friends With Friends With Benefits. Belying their advice about the emotional consequences of casual sex, Timberlake and Kunis’ friends also start screwing around and get hurt in the process. Then they get back together in the end, when one of them dashes through the airport just as the other is about to board a flight to Kirkuk. 

Cowboys & Aliens (July 29)
What it’s about: Daniel Craig plays a mysterious drifter in the Old West who joins forces with Harrison Ford to defend a small town against an alien invasion. 
Why a sequel is essential: Cowboys & Aliens’ title is so gimmicky and surefire, it practically looks naked without a numeral at the end. Besides, Craig and Ford have had success with sequels in the past, what with the Bond, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones franchises.
Possible sequel: Ford hops inside a UFO the aliens foolishly left behind during their assault, joins forces with a woolly, bleating sidekick, and recreates himself as an intergalactic gun for hire in Cowboys & Aliens: The War Continues, Only This Time In The Stars.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (July 29)

What it’s about: Steve Carell stars as a feckless suburbanite who, after learning his wife (Julianne Moore) has been unfaithful, turns to Ryan Gosling for advice. Meanwhile, Gosling falls for Emma Stone. None of this sounds particularly funny, but since it’s from the team of Glen Ficarra and John Requa—screenwriters of Bad Santa and directors of I Love You Phillip Morris—and features that cast, it’s probably worth a look.
Why a sequel is essential: The title alone makes sequels easy. Just swap out one word for another and the DNA rearranges itself into all sorts of movies. Crazy, Stupid, Justice: A legal drama. Explosive, Stupid, Love: An international thriller with a dash of romance. Try it. It’s fun!
Possible sequel: Julia Roberts joins the cast in the crossover experiment Eat, Pray, Crazy, Stupid, Love.