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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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).
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.
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.
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.
A version of this article originally posted in November of 2012.
