What we want from the sequel
Wreck-It Ralph did extremely well in theaters--much better than we thought it would. Seriously, who could have predicted that a movie about arcade games would end up doing so well that Disney started putting "From the Director of Wreck-It Ralph" in their previews? This isn't a complaint, mind you--we loved the movie to death, and desperately want more--we just... didn't expect it.
And now, it looks like "more" is exactly what we're going to be getting. Composer Henry Jackman revealed that he's working on a sequel, which means... holy crap! Wreck-It Ralph 2! Get pumped! But how can Disney best the original? We've gone ahead and written a list of how we think the second film would play out.
The theme should involve accepting your family, no matter what
Wreck-It Ralph wasn't that heavy-handed with its themes, but there was definitely a general vibe of "be who you are" throughout the entire film. Ralph had to come to terms with being a wrecker (and a "bad guy"), Vanellope had to take advantage of her glitchiness, and Turbo's greatest downfall was that he couldn't accept who he was.
In the sequel we'd like to see this expanded upon, moving towards accepting not just yourself, but the people around you. It's a Disney movie, so it needs some kind of moral, and we just think this one would work best. It's an important moral lesson for kids to learn, and since the original film tackled a relatively interesting theme, we think the sequel should, too.
Sequels to Wreck-It Ralph should be added to the arcade
Obviously, in order for the story to involve loving and accepting your family, they'd need to--you know--add that family. Where would these relatives come from? New arcade cabinets, of course! Just say that the arcade has seen a new surge in popularity, leading to the owner expanding with a few retro machines.
We'd love to see new versions of Wreck-It Ralph throughout the arcade. Let's have a Wreck-It Ralph Jr., where Ralph meets his younger brother, and a Super Wreck-It Ralph, where he gets in touch with his wacky cousin. Oh! And maybe even Mrs. Wreck-It Ralph, where Ralph meets a giant-handed female wrecker.
It should turn out that Ralph became the series' lead
No, that's not a typo in the last slide--we want Wreck-It Ralph game sequels, not Fix-It Felix sequels. Though the machine Ralph came from in the original was called Fix-It Felix Jr., we think the movie's history should follow that of another popular franchise. Just like Donkey Kong eventually bowed to Mario, the titular character shouldn't be the star of the series.
Due to fandom over the unbridled rage of Ralph, he should be turn out to be the true hero of the series, seeing his character expanded to be considered one of the most popular game characters of all time. Considering that the games in the arcade don't seem aware of games outside the arcade this wouldn't really be common knowledge to them, so it could still be a surprise to find out that Ralph is the star.
Fix-It Felix Sr. should also be added
Finding out that Ralph is the popular one outside the arcade would be wonderful news for the star. That said, it wouldn't be great for Fix-It Felix Jr. He'd likely feel dejected, like he wasn't good enough to become the celebrity that Ralph did. His father, too, would be upset, since his son wasn't able to continue the Felix legacy. And... bam--there's the other half of the "accepting your family" story we suggested.
The writers of Wreck-It Ralph told us that they'd like to work Felix's father (who is mentioned, but not shown) into a sequel. Having him be disappointed in Jr. would be a nice role reversal from the original film. Maybe he'll even take back that magic hammer? A terrifying prospect, to be sure.
The antagonist should come from outside the arcade
While the plot should definitely deal with the families of the characters from the games, there could also be a valuable lesson taught about the destructive power of competition. Instead of having the new villain be another Turbo, let's have it be a Billy Mitchell-style foe, going around the country setting high scores in retro games (and maybe dragging his reluctant son or daughter with him).
Anyone who has seen King of Kong knows that competitive arcade gaming will often end in a "kill screen," which freezes and glitches the game. While we celebrate this, game characters would see it as the end of the world, and Ralph would have to find a way to avoid this terrible fate. Since Felix would already be angry about not having any sequels, he'd likely accept the chance to show that he can beat Ralph, especially if it'll lead to their memories being wiped from the kill screen. Dark, sure, but it fits.
Ralph should have to game jump to train to beat him
In order to beat the competitive gamer (and an angry Fix-It Felix), Ralph is going to need to train. This gives him a chance to travel between games, picking up "power-ups" and training in different genres. He could visit Easy Livin' Extreme 2 (a lost world mentioned by the writers originally created for the first movie) to learn how to steal a car, he can find out how to Shoryuken from Street Fighter, and how to deal with multi-tasking from Tapper.
He can work through various games in a Rocky-style montage, learning different maneuvers he can use against the evil, awful competitive gamer. He should also learn how to jump and smash blocks
Mario should play a role
Wreck-It Ralph's writers and director said that Mario could've been in the film if they wanted him to. But this is Mario, and they didn't want him to show up for a random cameo--he's too important than that.
Hey! What's more important character than having him show up to teach Ralph some new moves? He can be the wise old sage, giving Ralph Yoda-like advice in the Mushroom Kingdom. Just show an SNES in the arcade (maybe its used for birthday parties) and you have Ralph running through Super Mario World and learning how to fight from gaming's most famous mascot.
There should be even more gaming references and cameos
As if we even need to write this. Besides training with Mario and other gaming characters, we also want even more fun cameos in Wreck-It Ralph 2. More graffiti, more people showing up in the background, more quick "blink and you'll miss it" references.
Just more stuff to pause and enjoy when the Blu-ray comes out--because, let's face it, we're all going to want to do that. A lot. Like... it's all we're going to do.
Ralph should eventually end up on the internet
This isn't even remotely related to the other ideas we wrote, and we have no clue how it could be worked into the story, but we want Ralph to travel into the internet. A new machine with leaderboard functionality could be added, maybe, so he could get in that way, diving into the dizzying world of video game websites, social networks, and cat videos.
That's... literally all we have on this one, but it would be awesome! Maybe he needs to check out some cheats and guides from a certain video game website. Eh? Eh? Just give us a call, Disney, we're ready for our close up.
He can fix it
These are our wants for the sequel, but there are plenty of other cool things that could be in Wreck-It Ralph 2. What do you want from it? Let us know in the comments below.
And if you're looking for more Wreck-It Ralph stuff, check out 9 amazing facts about the movie and every game reference in the trailer.
A version of this article originally posted in November of 2012.
