One of my all-time favorite films, Project X, which ranked 85th in my updated Top 100 Movies of All Time list, is reportedly getting a female-led sequel. Now here’s the thing that everyone knows: sequels are tough. Most of the time, you get cheap imitations that lack any decent substance and are used as a cash grab. Whether it’s Jaws The Revenge from 1987, The Ring 2 from 1999 or Mean Girls that just came out this year, they’re regarded as horrendous and aren’t generally acknowledged. Many people try to forget those films. But there are exceptions. Some sequels blow audiences away like Paddington 2 in 2017, The Dark Knight in 2008 or Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991.
What concerns me about Project X getting a sequel is that there doesn’t feel like a need for a sequel. The way Project X ended left no loose ends. We know the fate of our main characters and how the party was a disaster. The only way a sequel works is if we see our female leads get inspired by old video or stories of the notorious party and they attempt to remake it. That’s the only way this works. In the 2024 version of Mean Girls, it doesn’t work because there’s no reference to the original film and it tries to be a cheap remake, but that’s never clarified. I think it’s imperative to reference the original Project X to get fans to buy in.
Another issue is that it’s a female-led cast. I have no issue with it being female-led. It’s just that this formula hasn’t worked in the past. The 2014 comedy Neighbors made $270 million at the box office, but its female led sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising made just $108 million at the box office. Nowadays, people view this move as woke. While I don’t entirely agree, I do think it’s a version of virtue signaling. When these female-led remakes/sequels don’t succeed, people call consumers misogynists. But it’s not that the viewers are misogynists. They’re just yearning for original ideas.
Something I did find funny was the sequels name. Rather than making it Project X 2, it’s titled Project XX. For those of you who went to class in high school, you realized that this is a funny play on science. If you didn’t get it, well, that’s unfortunate. The title Project XX is a play on female chromosomes. Male chromosomes are XY, while female chromosomes are XX. This is a step in the right direction for the risky sequel attempt.
Despite all my doubts, I can’t help but be excited. There’s a distinct rush I feel every time I rewatch Project X. Maybe the sequel will match the energy of the original. The keys to that, along with referencing the original, is to include a killer soundtrack, not to focus solely on the film’s narrative and dialogue and to just make it look fun. Project X inspired a generation of kids to wreck their parents homes with massive bashes. The crew for Project XX should try to recreate that mania that high schoolers in 2012 felt. Also, it’d be cool to see a return of Miles Teller. This time, he should be in the role as the creepy old guy we see in Project X. Just food for thought.
