Sequel Snark - Television Tropes & Idioms

"God willing, we'll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money."

- Yogurt, Spaceballs

Comedies in general (and parodies in particular) often target popular genres and the conventions thereof. Of course, one of the many reasons these genres are so ripe for parody in the first place is because the conventions of them have been repeated to the point of ridiculousness by sequel after sequel after rip off after remake.

As a result, it's not uncommon for parodies of these genres to make a joke about having a sequel. Oddly enough, the movies that make these jokes rarely if ever end up actually having sequels made to them. This is probably because the jokes are inserted for the purpose of making fun of sequels, and actually creating one after that would be missing the point.

Compare Ridiculous Future Sequelization.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

The anime adaptation of Axis Powers Hetalia uses this as a Running Gag with the phrase "To Be Continued... maybe..."

Film

Very common in the films of Mel Brooks:
- Even the title of History of the World Part I implies a sequel, and they do "previews" to Part Two (including "Hitler On Ice!!!"), but it's clear they don't mean to make one.
- The rapping Greek Chorus in Robin Hood: Men in Tights jokes about reappearing in Robin Hood 2. No sequel has been announced.
- In Spaceballs Yogurt jokes that he and Lone Starr will meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, as part of the movie's Running Gag about merchandising. No sequel has been made, though an animated series had a short run in the mid 2000s
Characters from Kevin Smith's movies will sometimes make jokes about sequels or about the type of films and the order they're made in: "No, first you do the safe picture, THEN you do the art picture, then sometimes you have to do the pay-back picture!" Cue characters casting a glance at the camera.
In the sports movie parody The Comebacks after winning the climactic football game and vowing to leave the sport forever, the main character is offered a job coaching basketball at "Sequel University". There have been no plans to make a sequel to The Combacks, and considering its quality, that's probably a good thing.
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka: During the climax Mr. Big acknowledges that his character is an exploitation villain in a movie.
Mr. Big: I'm sorry, boys, but there ain't gonna be a sequel to this one.
The original Jackass movie pulls out a final skit after the credits, hinting at a sequel dubbed "Son of Jackass" jackass, where the now-elderly cast runs a march of death while getting maimed and killed in increasingly gory ways. While there was a sequel, it wasn't called Son of Jackass.
- Bam in the credits of Jackass 2 begs "Please, God, don't let there be a Jackass Three!]] Sure enough...
Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist spent a good deal of time at the end of the movie showing a full trailer for the sequel, made up mostly of scenes deleted from the first movie. Naturally, it didn't happen (though a sequel is currently in Development Hell).
Mac and Me ends with a promise that "We'll be back!" Oh, no you won't.
Chris Tucker, in an outtake from RushHour 2, upon seeing a bad guy plummet to his death, declares: "Damn! He ain't gonna be in Rush Hour 3!"
- Turns out he wasn't.
An odd case involves the Scary Movie franchise. The Tag Line of the first movie was "No mercy. No shame. No sequel.", but this didn't stop a sequel from being released the very next year (with the Tag Line "We Lied"). Similarly, the Tag Line of Scary Movie 3 ("Great Trilogies Come in Threes") didn't stop a fourth, (and upcoming fifth) movie from being released.
From Scream: "No, please don't kill me, Mr. Ghost face! I wanna be in the sequel!"
Maggie Simpson's second (and currently last) word, spoken at the end of the credits in The Simpsons Movie, is "sequel?".
In the British slasher spoof Unmasked Part 25 (whose very title implies this trope), several snarky comments are made throughout regarding the probability of another sequel.

Video Games

The 100% completion ending of Banjo-Kazooie shows snapshots of the eponymous characters obtaining items inaccessible in the main game. When asked what they're for, Mumbo Jumbo tells them they'll have to wait for the sequel (which was made a few years later).
- Playing it straight, after defeating her in Banjo-Tooie, Gruntilda exclaims that she'll have her revenge in 'Banjo-Threeie' (which wasn't made).
In the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country, after the Kongs jump overboard and King K. Rool sails off, Cranky remarks, "Call that an ending? Looks like a cheap stunt setting up the story for the sequel!" In the Hero Mode ending, he tells Diddy, "You have really surpassed yourself! Who knows? Maybe you'll make the sequel."
In Duke Nukem Forever, Duke meets on a dying character and merrily quips that he won't be in the sequel. Time will show if this trope applies.
EarthBound joked about a sequel, and then it took it 11 years to actually get made. And it was Japan-Only.
In Eternal Darkness one of the insanity effects was an advert for a sequal appearing, implying that the game was over.
The Monkey Island games made a Running Gag out of referring to the franchise as having five games, even when there were only three or four. This became a Noodle Incident in Tales, which apparently skipped it over.
The very last line in No More Heroes is Sylvia lampshading the bizarre ending of the game with "Too bad there won't be a sequel!" This, of course, turned out to be a lie.
Rayman 3, Murfy leaves saying that he'll see us in Rayman 4. As of this writing, there has not been a game titled Rayman 4, or, indeed, any true sequel to Rayman 3.