While everyone has their eyes fixed on what Pixar is doing with its strange balance between original films and franchises, DreamWorks and Sony are basically doing whatever they want, innovating in animation storytelling and consciously ignoring what the boards believe the general public wants. From Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to The K-Pop Warriors, the teams at both studios know exactly what they are doing to leave everyone at their feet. The latest franchise that has brought them profits is The Bad Guys: although its sequel has performed a bit worse at the box office, nothing suggests it will lose money. And the future is certainly very bright!
Pure evil
Not everyone knows this, but The Bad Guys and its sequel did not come from the imagination of Etan Cohen (not Ethan Cohen: Etan is the screenwriter of Men in Black 3 or Idiocracy), but from a collection of children’s graphic novels that started in 2015 and already has a total of 20 episodes, the last one in 2024: a pace of two books a year written by Aaron Blabey, a 51-year-old man who has sold over 35 million units worldwide. So, it was logical to continue the saga having such strong original material.
After the ending that promises The Bad Guys 2, obviously the story has to continue, because it really serves more as a bridge movie than as a sequel in itself. From here on, it is likely that they will follow the path proposed by the original books, and face threats like we haven’t seen before. For example, the third movie could tell how Mr. Snake is possessed by an otherworldly entity and becomes a villain (more specifically The Dark Lord of Snakes) against whom the rest of the group has to fight, or directly face a demonic centipede that wants to conquer the universe called Splaarghön. Hey, 20 books offer a lot, okay?
In any case, if they want to take the risk of continuing with the saga (something common in DreamWorks), they have options to choose from, including intergalactic villains, evil puppies, and even the very beginning of the universe. At a cost of about 80 million per movie and with incredible potential to succeed later on streaming, they have nothing to lose. Moreover: after Netflix found a hit with The K-Pop Warriors, no one says they won’t start buying youth movies in bulk, including future installments of The Bad Guys.
What is the bad thing? That the saga ends with chapter 20, One Last Thing (according to its author, because his children had already grown up, and that was the only reason, besides the huge money, to make this saga), and there are no signs of continuing despite the cinematic success. In it, the Wolf and Rhonda travel through time and end up closing everything in a perfect circle. If in the second part they go to space to recover all the gold in the world (literally), why wouldn’t there be time travel? Given what they are capable of doing visually at DreamWorks, the sky is the limit. Perhaps there will never be an opportunity to make The Bad Guys 4, so they would do well to bet 150 percent. Just in case.
By the way: The Bad Guys also has a literary spin-off, Cat on the Run, so if the saga keeps bringing in profits, maybe it’s time to broaden horizons. An animated movie about an Internet cat accused of a crime she didn’t commit? What I don’t understand is how Blabey doesn’t already have a blank check on his desk. He certainly deserves it.
