“Sneak a Peek” at the “Yesterday” Sequel

Universal Pictures sets the stage for a movie that is enduring to many (if not most) viewers. The kind of film people want to see more of:

“Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal. From Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) and Richard Curtis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill, comes a rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life.

“Jack Malik (Himesh Patel, BBC’s Eastenders) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed … and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed.

“Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (Emmy winner Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love.”

No, there have not been any formal announcements about a sequel to the summer hit, “Yesterday,” but it seems like it is inevitable. With a budget for the first one of only $26 million and a box office of five times that amount, it is definitely the kind of film people we want to see a follow up for.  The idea of a world, completely changed (both good and bad) by a massive power failure is just too interesting to end with a single movie. This film has franchise written all over it. Both in full length motion pictures, or even a TV series (on a streaming platform or a network).

Be it by TV series or future movies, the original movie gave plenty of hints of where the film could go next.

• An entire story line about people who were dead “before” yesterday who are now very much alive because they never picked up a pack of cigarettes. This has “It’s a Wonderful Life” written all over it, but it would be about the upside to the changing of events.  Imagine adding a decade or more to improved mortality rates as a part of this episode’s theme.
• How about several episodes or films on other artists who disappeared because of that massive power outage? Or, equally interesting (and certainly more bold), artists that came into existence because of the incident.
• How about doing a follow up on the other Beatles? A whole episode devoted to each of the Fab 4 (this lends better to TV than a full length movie).
• There’s that scene where Jack discovers there was no “Harry Potter.” What if one of the few people with a memory of the book make an effort towards creating him? You might have one who got it next to perfect (verified by other fans he or she knew), but a publisher wouldn’t touch it. Or others who tried to be serious in rewriting it but it ended up reading like a parody. There are many angles on this story line alone.

The list of spin-offs and episodes are endless and the potential for hours (and even, years) of entertainment is obvious.

However, some critics were frustrated by all the things that disappeared from the great power outage. A critic at Thrilllist writes: “You know what else got wiped? Coca-Cola and cigarettes! Jack asks for a Coke and finds out there’s only Pepsi. Later, he remarks that he would like a cigarette, and he is met with a blank stare. Cigarettes have never been invented, and yet the course of human history seems mostly unchanged. Have fewer people died of lung cancer? Was there ever a tobacco trade? What became of the Marlboro Man? Did Mad Men ever make it to air? These are questions that need answering.” One with just a little imagination has to love that last sentence, “These are questions that need answering.” Yes, they do, and think of the hours of entertainment that could come from answering those questions.