The backstory J.D. Salinger wrote this book called “Catcher in the Rye” that’s required reading for high schoolers and became a recluse. Then, he came out of hiding to file a lawsuit against some guy writing a new book about the book’s protagonist, 60 years later.
The defense Saying “I am not a pirate,” the author, Fredrik Colting, claims in a court brief that he’s not ripping off the author but critically analyzing his work – specifically, the relationship between Holden Caulfield and the reclusive author who inspired him. source
Will the franchise stay puft after all these years? Dan Aykroyd revealed recently that the entire main cast has signed on for a third movie, including Bill Murray, who’s famously been very reluctant to do a third film and who’s spent so long going after Oscar bait that it’s going to be weird to see him back in this mode. Aykroyd doesn’t blame him: “I don’t put not making the third movie on Billy. We can’t do that.” Anyway, the film itself will focus on passing the torch to a younger generation of comic actors. As long as they don’t hand that torch to Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia, we’re OK with this. source
The fun of this is that the destiny of these characters is in their hands — it’s not constrained by the pre-existing films or TV series. Believe me, whether it’s William Shatner or Khan … it would be ridiculous to not be open to those ideas.
“Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams • On the nice part of having a major hit film based on a legacy franchise – specifically one based on an alternate reality – on your hands: Thinking about the possibilities of what you can do with it next. If they get Shatner on board, fanbois are gonna be like whoa. • source
Storytelling, [it] works brilliantly. I think [Cave] enjoyed doing it, and I think it was one of those things that he thought, ‘Well, maybe there’s a sequel where we can adjust the fantasy and bring [Maximus] back from the dead.’
Director Ridley Scott • Discussing Nick Cave’s rejected “Gladiator 2” script, commissioned by “Gladiator” star Russell Crowe. Cave, better known for songs such as “The Mercy Seat” and “Where the Wild Roses Grow,” had a major challenge – create a sequel for a film whose main character died at the end of the movie. He solved it by going in crazy directions – making Maximus live forever through reincarnation, playing a part in World War II and showing up in the Pentagon. This sounds amazing. • source
But why? “Watchmen,” which already carried a rep of being a fairly hard-to-translate comic book film (and many critics think they didn’t succeed, either), didn’t have a sequel in comic book form. It’s unlikely to have one in film form, either, even though it did OK (but not amazing) at the box office. Furthermore, the stars, while not against the idea, don’t think there’s really a good way a sequel could be made.
The director: Not interested The cast and crew seems pretty much against the idea of a “Watchmen” sequel themselves. “I know that I wouldn’t have anything to do with it,” director Zack Snyder noted to the New York Times. He went further to criticize superhero sequelitis: “The attitude toward comic books, they show their hand a little bit. They would never say that about a real novelist, but they would about a comic book.” source