Clueless (1995)
The Film: Amy Heckerling’s genre-defining orgy of quotable one-liners, extreme fashion and, er, dodgy driving. Alicia Silverstone is the bubblegum teen navigating love’s tricky waters in the halls of a California high school.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: We’ve already had a somewhat crummy TV series, and if the never-ending Bring It On sequels have shown us anything, it’s that just because a teen comedy’s a hit, it doesn’t mean we want it turned into a franchise. Especially now that Clueless ’ young cast is considerably older.
If They Made One Anyway: A pampered, thirtysomething Cher (Silverstone) is left in a spot of bother when her father dies and leaves all his money to his new wife (Elizabeth Olsen). How will Cher cope now that she’s penniless?
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Film: M. Night Shyamalan’s stunning third feature, in which a child psychologist (Bruce Willis) tries to help a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) who claims to be able to see dead people.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: Forget the twist, the beauty of The Sixth Sense is in its taut storytelling and killer characterisation. There’s not a stone left unturned, which means a sequel would have to go in a completely different direction.
If that’s the case, why not just make a ghost movie without using the Sixth Sense label?
If They Made One Anyway: A paranormal investigator discovers there’s a seventh sense when a young girl starts displaying strange abilities.
E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
The Film: Steven Spielberg’s enchanting ode to friendship, no matter what your species. Elliot (Henry Thomas) and his siblings befriend a stranded alien who enjoys dressing up, drinking beer and chowing down on Reese’s Pieces.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: What would a sequel really have to add? Spielberg’s film perfectly captured that childhood wonder in a time before every 12-year-old had an iPhone.
Speaking of, in this day and age, we doubt ET would have any problem phoning home.
If They Made One Anyway: Actually, they almost did. As we discovered in our investigation a few years back , ET 2 would have seen evil aliens land on Earth to bother Elliot and his family.
We’d also have found out that ET’s name is Zrek. Yeah…
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Film: Alex (Malcolm McDowell) rampages through a dystopian Britain before forcibly entering a rehabilitation program that should cure him of his world-hating ways.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: Stanley Kubrick’s violent adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel is timeless enough as it is – its vision of youth gone wild certainly chimes with concerns about today's city-dwelling youngsters.
We don’t need a sequel when Kubrick’s film has already made its point so elegantly.
If They Made One Anyway: Alex’s son (Garrett Hedlund) is displaying a similar inclination to anarchy as his rewired pa, prompting Alex to send junior off to a futuristic behavioural camp…
Scarface (1983)
The Film: Cuban refugee Tony Montana (Al Pacino) rises to prominence in Miami as a drug kingpin. Marries Michelle Pfeiffer. And ends up face down in a fountain.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: Making a sequel to Scarface would be like trying to remake The Godfather.
With a never-better Pacino, its zeitgeist-y subject matter and THOSE Hawaiian shirts, a sequel couldn’t touch it in the ‘icon’ stakes.
If They Made One Anyway: Considering the popularity of Breaking Bad , it wouldn’t surprise us if a studio exec decided to resurrect the Scarface brand.
A sequel would probably take that title literally, starring a facially-scarred drug kingpin (Mickey Rourke, obvs) whose legend is tarnished when rumours spread that he's related to Mariah Carey.
Labyrinth (1986)
The Film: David Bowie wears a cod-piece and Jennifer Connelly acts with an obstinate bottom lip in this Muppet-y modern classic, set within the confines of an almost impossible-to-solve labyrinth.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: A sequel Manga series was already released in 2006, but Jim Henson’s gorgeous original film has stood the test of time.
If a sequel was made, it would no doubt ditch those lovely practical effects for CGI. We'd prefer to have our heads pulled off by a Firey.
If They Made One Anyway: We imagine it would take inspiration from the Return To Labyrinth comics, with baby Toby growing up and getting pegged by Goblin King Jareth as his heir.
Stand By Me (1986)
The Film: Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella. Four boys head off into the Oregon wilderness to look for the body of a dead boy. Meanwhile, Kiefer Sutherland’s knife-flicking older teen is on the same trail.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: River Phoenix. Ben E. King’s theme tune. Corey Feldman. That sucker punch to the gut of an ending.
Stand By Me is so perfect in every detail that to create a sequel would only sully its good name.
And let’s face it, a sequel could never come close to this classic coming-of-ager, could it?
If They Made One Anyway: A female spin-off in which four girls in the same Oregon town go camping and have epiphanies. Think Now & Then . Only better.
Looper (2012)
The Film: Director Rian Johnson messes with the time-space continuum in this gorgeous futuristic thriller. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a looper, or assassin, whose life is thrown into turmoil when his older self (Bruce Willis) arrives from the future.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: By the end of Looper , Johnson had beautifully closed the loop on his time-travel mind-boggler. He did it so beautifully, in fact, that any follow-up would merely undo his stellar work.
If They Made One Anyway: Things get even trippier when Looper 2 opens with (SPOILER) the scene at the end of Looper in which Young Joe kills himself.
Instead, another Old Joe appears and stops him, sending this off into even more head-scratching territory.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Film: Bloodbaths, double-crosses and black ties in Quentin Tarantino’s effortlessly cool crime drama.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: For a start, pretty much everybody’s dead by the end of Tarantino’s directorial debut, meaning a sequel would have to either be set before the events of Dogs , or take the 'non-sequel sequel' approach.
Neither of which sound particularly enticing really, right?
If They Made One Anyway: Bad-ass Mr Gold (Christoph Waltz) attempts to put together a new team of thieves, but will his rival – Madam Green (Jodie Foster) – beat him to the punch?
WALL-E (2008)
The Film: WALL-E is the little robot that could in Andrew Stanton’s heart-warming sci-fi. Left on Earth shifting the waste of a billion humans, he finds love in the shiny form of EVE.
Why It Should Never Get A Sequel: We love Toy Story 2 and 3 . We love Monsters University (technically a prequel). But WALL-E is a Pixar movie that just doesn’t need a follow-up.
Whereas The Incredibles sort of invites a sequel (it's basically a CGI comic book), WALL-E closes up shop perfectly by the closing credits.
If They Made One Anyway: It would be titled EVE and centre on the iPad-like future ’bot, who’s whisked off on a mission, leaving WALL-E to pine once more.