Earlier this week it was announced that producers were planning a sequel to Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life, news that resulted in people taking to the streets and shouting, “Merry Christmas, movie house!” in a tone of unprecedented sarcasm. But, as seen in the memorable film—a film that some believe could nevertheless use an update, about an angel trying to convince George Bailey’s grandson that he sucks—just as you’ve reached your deepest moment of despair, that’s when your friends feel bad enough about it to do something. So following days of outcry, Paramount has stepped up to declare that any It’s A Wonderful Life follow-up would have to be officially licensed by the studio, and it will “take all appropriate steps to protect those rights”—like a cold, miserly Mr. Potter you can actually root for.
Indeed it seems that, in an unexpected display of wrongheaded opportunism from someone who wants to make an It’s A Wonderful Life sequel, producers Bob Farnsworth and Allen Schwalb were apparently under the misconception that the film had entered the public domain, despite its actually being controlled by Paramount for the past 14 years. And with Paramount now refusing to cooperate, Frank Capra’s son Tom telling the Associated Press that the idea is “ludicrous,” and the sequel’s only true asset being the now-73-year-old little girl who says that “every time a bell rings” line, It’s A Wonderful Life 2 seems destined to drown at a young age, leaving behind a world that will never know it. As a bonus, this world also has more strippers, for some reason.