As far as beloved family adventure films go, The Goonies is still going strong some 40 years after it arrived on the scene, becoming one of the best children's movies ever made. The classic 1985 film directed by Richard Donner, which follows a group of children on a treasure hunt to save their neighborhood from demolition, is as integral to some fans' childhood as "ET: The Extra Terrestrial" or The NeverEnding Story (ie other movies where absolutely nothing emotional scars happen). It also helped create stars such as Corey Feldman, Sean Astin, Josh Brolin and Ke Hui Quan, and features Cyndi Lauper's killer song.

Like many other revered '80s hits that audiences keep coming back to for a dose of nostalgia, however, The Goonies has yet to receive a proper sequel. By this point, it's safe to say that The Goonies 2 will likely take the form of a legacy sequel, complete with nods to the original film, the returning cast looking much older, and a new generation of heroes to potentially carry the torch forward. . Well, while that might seem like an idea fans might warm to, they'd be better off tempering those expectations. Truth be told, The Goonies 2 has been stuck in the will-they-won't-they phase for decades... and as for the stars of Donner's film, The Goonies may never say "die," but in this moment might be the time to talk about a sequel.

Trying to get clarification on whether The Goonies 2 might actually happen is a bit like trying to maneuver through a series of underground tunnels to locate One-Eyed Willy's riches. Before he died, Donner said in numerous interviews that attempts had indeed been made to return to Gun Docs for a new installment, but that not every actor was on board. "We tried really hard. "(Executive producer) Steven (Spielberg) and I told them a few things and, frankly, they were wrong," Donner said. IGN in 2006. "And we put it aside." If I ever find a really good handle on the script for it, I'd go and voice it again, because speaking of (something) I'd like to see. (... ) It's amazing, but it has to be right, or don't do it, because I couldn't believe that movie.

By 2020, Steven Spielberg - who also cracked the story of The Goonies besides serving as the film's executive producer—he didn't have much to add to it. "(Goonies screenwriter) Chris (Columbus), Dick and I (...) had a lot of conversations about it," explained the legendary director of Josh Gad's Separated Reunited at that time. "Every two years we come up with an idea, but then it doesn't hold water." Sadly, just a year after that, Donner passed away, leaving behind an incredible body of work and a sequel space that few would have dared to fill. However, as one of the original Goonies rightly stated, who would even want to see it?

Even after Donner's death, murmurs of a sequel to "The Goonies" continued as late as 2024, with Martha Plimpton, who played Steph in the original film, Instagram to expose a report from The sun that the sequel is set to begin filming in 2025. Popping the bubble for fans around the world, Plimpton simply wrote: “Folks, there is no script for 'Goonies 2', there is no one 'pinned', Spielberg is not directing. It's not real." It might not be the news fans wanted to hear, but in the eyes of oldest Goonie, Josh Brolin, it might be a good thing.

When asked about the Goonies sequel during a March 2024 interview with Yahoo!the "Dine" star — who played Astin's older on-screen brother in Donner's original film — had a blunt response. "Personally, why? You know what I mean? I don't like it," he admitted. "Film exists in a really wonderful way, generation after generation I can see that." And after all these years, Brolin cherishes the place "The Goonies" has in the hearts of audiences and has no desire to tarnish that. "I mean, it's such a wonderful thing that exists that you can see how it affects people, and why should you weigh it against anything else?" Tell me, how would it be? he added. And if you really want an answer to that, technically all you have to do is crack open an old Nintendo entertainment system to find out.

While some fans may still be hoping we'll be dusting off our treasure maps and practicing our piano playing for a Goonies movie sequel in the foreseeable future, there's already a Goonies video game sequel titled The Goonies II . : The Last Stand of Fratellis'. Released for the NES in 1987 and developed by Konami, The Goonies II not only reunited us with Mikey and his pals, but was also one of the first exploration platform games.

Although it may be quite dated nowadays, the game has a plot where MIkey goes it alone after the rest of the Goonies are kidnapped by the Fratellis after another prison break. Over the course of the game, Mikey gradually rescues the other members of the Goonies one by one, along with a mermaid named Annie who the Fratellis also bagged (because, of course, they did).

Suffice it to say, if a sequel to The Goonies ever happens, it will have to be dramatically different from The Goonies II. But between Donner's death and even members of the original "Goonies" cast speaking out against the idea of ​​bringing back Goon Docks, the closest thing we might end up getting to another "Goonies" movie would be a Disney+ tie-in project (one that, much like "The Goonies 2," has also yet to fully exit the country).

In 2021, Disney+ picked up the rights to a new show about a group of filming kids a tape remake of "The Goonies", The series, titled Our Time (referring to Mike's legendary speech about whether the Goons should continue their adventure or abandon their dreams to save their homes), will specifically focus on a school teacher who, after returning home, he helps a trio of kids remake their favorite movie ("The Goonies," naturally). It's a project that will almost certainly catch the eye of Goonies fans ... assuming it ever actually gets off the ground, that is.

Before Disney got its oversized mouse-shaped gloves, Our Time was originally developed as a pilot for Fox in 2020, before moving to Disney+ after Fox decided it was too young for its purposes. However, since then, there has been little or nothing in the way of further updates to report. That's not too surprising at this stage either, given Disney's hit and miss when it comes to nostalgia originals for its streaming service. After all, House of Mouse has invested a lot of money in making Willow's successor series for Disney+, only to have the show quickly canceled after one season and remove it from the streaming service entirely.

There's also another, and perhaps more glaring, issue — namely, that any attempt to directly continue the "Goonies" franchise will have to deal with a lot of competition from the spiritual descendants of Donner's film that have emerged in recent years.

Nowadays, there are numerous movies and TV shows that have done a great job of capitalizing on the spirit of childhood adventure that The Goonies embodied. Streaming series like "Stranger Things" and "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" similarly evoke the memory of Mikey and his gang tearing down the street on their bikes with their own images of kids facing danger and heading for unknown destinations. And it's not unintentional. In the case of "Skeleton Crew," creators/showrunners John Watts and Christopher Ford admitted they even tried to get the cast of "The Goonies" to make a trip to a galaxy far, far away for their family story about a group of youngsters who leave their home in search of adventure.

"We talked about that as an overall casting idea potentially, where it's, should we find some kids that were in those movies and now cast them as adult characters?" as Watts had previously revealed to him Comic strip. "But it wasn't enough to really go on. But no, there is definitely an opportunity there." Of course, even if they did, this kind of signature was already achieved in Hawkins with Stranger Things when Astin joined the series as Bob Newby, Joyce Byers' (Winona Ryder) short and incredibly brave boyfriend and knight in shining yellow. coat just like his younger hero. It's through these moments and homages that we've already in a way enjoyed many revisits to Goon Docks, even without the actual Goonies sequel.