Casablanca isn’t the sort of film one would suppose spawns a franchise, or perhaps a sequel, and why would you? After all, the movie ends with Rick Blaine (Humphery Bogart) forcing Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) to get on a aircraft and depart him so she will be able to keep away from being captured by the Nazis. The narrative is all wrapped up in a bow, completely completed with all the important thing characters having gone via a satisfying transformation. Nothing about this conclusion screams “sequel.” And but, there have been makes an attempt to get a follow-up made. Shortly after its preliminary launch, there was phrase of a Casablanca sequel, although it will by no means see the sunshine of day.
The Earliest Rumblings of a ‘Casablanca’ Sequel
In basic, the assemble of the sequel has at all times existed in cinematic storytelling, however it hasn’t at all times been in the identical dominant type it’s right now. Until the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, when franchises like James Bond, Planet of the Apes, and The Godfather modified the sport for franchises, sequels had been largely thought of fast money grabs with out a lot artistry. They weren’t commanding all the consideration of Hollywood, they had been simply quick methods for studios to construct on the success of films like King Kong or Frankenstein. This stigma surrounding sequels is necessary to recollect as a result of it isn’t like a Casablanca sequel could be a foregone conclusion like it will be right now.
Certainly, if Casablanca was launched right now and have become a moneymaker, we’d all be speaking a couple of pair of sequels and an HBO Max prequel TV collection earlier than its opening weekend was completed. In 1942, although, sequels had been a bit scarcer and dealt with a lot in a different way than within the age of Marvel Studios and the MonsterVerse. But it was huge information many years earlier when, shortly after it hit theaters, phrase of a Casablanca sequel started to bubble in Hollywood. As reported by The Midland Journal, the function would’ve been referred to as Brazzaville. This title signifies that the movie would’ve made adopted up on a closing line of dialogue from Casablanca by which Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) mentions that French metropolis as an possibility for a spot to cover out.
This identical report claimed that Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet would’ve reprised their roles from Casablanca in Brazzaville, although there was no phrase on what sort of storyline the function would chronicle. However, many years later, in a New York Post article, it will be revealed {that a} therapy for this challenge was penned by Frederic Stephani and its plot was…properly, fascinating could be a form option to phrase it. The most controversial a part of this proposed narrative was how it will’ve featured a twist that Rick and Renault had been working for the Allied forces all the time. Just take into consideration Casablanca with that twist in thoughts. That means there was by no means any uncertainty over Rick’s actions, he would’ve needed to let Ilsa go to be a great Allied spy. That’s simply one of many quick methods this storyline would’ve retroactively capsized Casablanca. Understandably, issues over Rick’s character being diluted on this follow-up ensured that Brazzaville would get scrapped.
‘Casablanca’ Sequel Interest Returns within the 80s
The curiosity in a Casablanca sequel on the massive display would develop chilly for many years afterward, although no movie this globally common would keep dormant in Hollywood for lengthy. That aforementioned New York Post piece recollects how, within the early Nineteen Eighties, Peter Koch, one of many sons of Casablanca screenwriter Howard Coch, had pitched a proposed sequel to Casablanca that was scrapped by Warner Bros. brass. His pitch centered on the son of Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund scouring the globe for his father and would’ve concerned the likes of Ingrid Bergman reprising their roles from the primary Casablanca many years later.
This is yet one more proposed Casablanca sequel idea that weirdly cheapens Rick’s climactic sacrifice. They didn’t should be separated in any case in an illustration of Rick doing one thing selfless, it turned out they’ve a dwelling respiration human being that perpetually bonds the 2 collectively. The most amusing a part of Coch’s pitch is the way it serves as a harbinger for the sort of sequels that might dominate the Hollywood panorama many years later. His proposed follow-up would match proper into the fashionable age of legacy sequels. One can virtually hear Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand” enjoying over the function’s finish credit…
A Twenty first-Century Attempt to Make a ‘Casablanca’ Sequel
Decades after this proposed idea, the idea of even approaching the concept of a Casablanca sequel turned more and more daunting. As the years glided by, Casablanca was not relegated to the wastebin of historical past as a relic, however relatively, consistently garnered new followers with every passing era. Its popular culture legacy was monumental, which meant that the notion of tacking on a sequel to its story was turning into an increasing number of sacrosanct with every passing day. Nobody would dare attempt one thing so innately controversial…till one fateful day in 2012 when it seemed like there was some momentum on the challenge.
In November 2012, producer Cass Warner, who had shut ties to Howard Koch, started pitching a sequel tentatively entitled Return to Casablanca. Koch had penned therapies for a follow-up that bear an awesome resemblance to the sequel proposed within the Nineteen Eighties, with the main target shifting to the son of Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund. While Warner revealed that she was having conferences with Warner Bros. executives concerning the challenge, no one on the web was keen on this potential challenge, together with Stephen Bogart, the son of Humphery Bogart. There was by no means any additional momentum on the proposed follow-up, although its very existence confirmed how a lot notoriety Casablanca wielded many years after its launch.
Fate has not been capable of cease all makes an attempt to use the Casablanca model identify for revenue, as seen by the existence of not one, however two separate TV reveals based mostly on this film. However, a correct feature-length sequel to Casablanca has by no means emerged, even again within the Nineteen Forties when Warner Bros. appeared gung-ho about doing a follow-up with the unique solid. It’s a lesson Hollywood won’t ever study, however not each film wants a sequel. As numerous subpar follow-up’s have proven, you typically can’t recapture that great magic that made so many films iconic within the first place. That’s very true of one thing like Casablanca, which capabilities so completely as a standalone sequel.
In different phrases, it’s no marvel studio executives have by no means been capable of chunk the bullet and green-light this sequel. It may be one thing that makes cash within the quick time period however even probably the most craven of executives know they’d remorse it. Maybe not right now. Maybe not tomorrow, however quickly and for the remainder of their lives!