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“The Godfather Part II” is considered by many to be one of the best sequels in history, yet the director himself, Francis Ford Coppola, has somewhat different thoughts.
According to Coppola, by agreeing to make a sequel, he essentially kickstarted Hollywood’s obsession with sequels.
“They said, ‘Francis, you’ve made Coca-Cola. Are you going to stop making it?'” recalls Coppola in an interview with The Washington Post (via Variety).
Coppola was initially reluctant to return to the director’s chair after the hit first installment in 1972 and even suggested Paramount Pictures consider Martin Scorsese for the job, but the idea was rejected.
Eventually, Francis began making odd demands, such as being paid a million dollars or adding the prefix ‘Part II’ to the sequel’s title, following the example of some Soviet films. Paramount fulfilled all, although they considered the last proposal insane — it was not done in Hollywood, and the studio feared that audiences would think it was the same movie.
“I’m the idiot who started putting numbers in movies,” says Coppola. “I’m embarrassed and I want to apologize to everyone.”
It should be noted that “The Godfather Part II” won six Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture of the Year. Currently, the film has a 96% rating from critics and 97% from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes.
Regarding Hollywood’s obsession with sequels, the problem is indeed very real. Looking at the box office statistics for 2024, all top-10 films were based on existing IPs. And if you think something will change next year, we must disappoint you — 70% of the films to be released in 2025 are sequels, prequels, or remakes (and some not only with the prefix ‘Part II’, like Coppola’s film, but also with numbers 8 and even 11).