Star Wars creator George Lucas can't stay away from the box office. After releasing the final three films in his science fiction space hexology, Lucas is utilizing animation to release a new Clone Wars movie this August. Add that to his dive back into the Indiana Jones franchise this summer with "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" which features Harrison Ford saving the world for the fourth time. This time Ford saves it by competing with Sylvester Stallone's recent Rocky and Rambo revisitations. It's not just the secular moviemakers who are back for more, however. Christian publishers continue chasing after initial success. Take the Left Behind series, for instance. The end-time novels were originally going to consist of seven books, one for each year of the tribulation. As sales rose, however, so did the book count, to 12 and later 16, more than double what was originally intended. Thankfully Harry Potter novelist J.K. Rowling knows when to call it enough, settling on seven books... for now. Eager fans could care less and have started petitions online for an eighth chapter in the series. "The Land Before Time" is a prime example of a film that threw itself overboard. There was once a rather peaceful period of time between the birth of the phenomenon in 1988 and the first sequel in 1994. But since then the only known years of grace were 2004 and 2006, both saved from the release of a new LBT sequel. But, 13 films later another project founded by Lucas has spiraled out of control. The record for "most absurd number of sequels" goes to the exciting film series "Wong Fei Hung" which lived a fairly decent life of 89 films before dying in 1997. It was born in 1949. Historically the studio with the best anti-sequel record would be Pixar, which has only produced one ("Toy Story 2") in its history, though the upcoming third release in the Woody-Lightyear saga may cost the company its crown. If fate continues to wrap its claws around movie sequels, any film today, despite its quality, could see an infinite number of subsequent releases. There may not be much of a market for "Helga Almighty" or "The Adventures of Pluto Nash 2," but even if studio executives have to tie an unconscious theater concessions vendor to a chair, production would continue. On the other hand, a few movies have a chance at actually making a box office comeback, especially by altering the title enough to make a radical difference in the plot. For example, "Snakes on a Stain," opens up entirely new possibilities. Alas, films have attempted that method before only to edge closer to failure similar to "The Tony Blair Witch Project" in 2000. One would think that by uniting the struggling sequel trains of horror films onto one solitary track a true blockbuster might pick up steam. "Psycho Chucky Saw Scary Movie Children of the Alien on Halloween in Amityville." ...Or derail. Even family-friendly movies can't last forever. Take the Shrek series, for instance, which is scheduled for another two movies, in 2010 and 2013, with a spin-off in between. Ogres begin to smell eventually. Consumers can be glad that sequels are confined to books and movies instead of things that consumers typically depend on staying stagnant, like groceries and clothing. Undeniably, there is something slightly disturbing about wearing a shirt into work and hearing a co-worker ask if you've tried on the newest one. But it might just be okay to snack on a brownie and suddenly realize that to learn how the taste continues, its imperative you try the next one on the tray. When it comes to what's important, however, it's easy to see that the best things are meant to be enjoyed once. Like life itself. 0x2013 Harrison Keely, intern, The Washington Times

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