Jim Hill
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Last week's announcements from Walt Disney Studios took a lot of Disneyana fans by surprise. "Tron 2.0?! But didn't the original film bomb when Disney released it back in 1982? And a sequel to the 'Country Bear" movie? How can you do a follow-up to a film that hasn't even come out yet?"

Welcome to Hollywood of the new millennium, folks. A place where the cost of making & marketing movies has gotten so astronomically high that the huge corporations that are currently running the studios don't want to take risks on new projects. That's why these folks prefer to play it safe by either remaking already successful films or doing sequels to previously profitable productions.

Don't believe me? Then take a look at this past weekend's box office, where the No.1 top grossing movie in the country -- "Planet of the Apes" -- was a remake of a hit 20th Century Fox motion picture from the late 1960s, and the No. 2 film -- "Jurassic Park III" -- was a sequel to a Steven Spielberg's blockbuster from the early 1990s.

Over at Disney ... Well, to be honest, the Mouse really wants to get into the sequel game. Just look at last week's announcements in the trades about Steve Lisberger being hard at work on "Tron 2.0" and Paul Rugg being signed to write the "Country Bear II" screenplay. It's just that Disney Studios really has fewer live action hits to work with.

Still, you can't blame Mickey for trying. I mean, look at some of the follow-up projects that Walt Disney Studios has announced over the past year or so. The Mouse -- at one time or another -- has seriously proclaimed its intentions to the press to make sequels / remakes / follow-ups to the following films:

"Escape from Witch Mountain" (1975) -- The original film version of Alexander Key's sci-fi novel proved to be so popular with the public that Disney had to do a sequel -- "Return to Witch Mountain" in 1978 -- and even attempted to launch a TV spin-off series based on the movies -- "Beyond Witch Mountain" -- back in 1982. The original Disney movie was then remade as a TV movie in 1995, which then aired as a special episode of ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney."

Well, hopefully, the third time's the charm. For -- last year -- Disney announced plans to do yet another new version of "Escape to Witch Mountain." Neophyte screenwriter Adam Kukalow has been hired to write the script for the new "Witch Mountain" movie, which is said to remain faithful to the original 1975 film but have more of a modern bite.

"George of the Jungle II" (1997): The producers of the first film -- Jordan Kerner and John Avnet -- as "George" director Sam Weisman have been itching for years now to do a sequel to this live action hit. Trouble is, the actor who played George -- Brendan Frasier -- isn't all that eager to put back on his animal skin and slam into trees again.

That's why Kerner, Avnet & Weisman have come up with a gag that they think will help persuade Frasier to at least come back to do a few days worth of filming on "George of the Jungle II." They're proposing to put Brendan in a 500 pound fat suit and pretend that the actor got woefully out of shape in the years since the first "George" movie was filmed. They'd then have the film's narrator introduce a new actor to play George's role. According to the current screenplay, the Frasier-as-grossly-overweight-actor gag would be revisited several times over the course of the movie.

Unfortunately, without Brendan agreeing to appear in the entire movie, Disney executives don't seem to think that "George of the Jungle II" would have strong enough legs to stand as a theatrical release. That's why -- as of this moment -- the studio's leaning toward going direct-to-video with this particular project.

"Inspector Gadget" (1999): Also originally announced as a direct-to-video project, this film -- thanks to Matthew Broderick's high profile performance in the multi-Tony Award winning mega-hit, "The Producers" -- now appears headed back to the big screen. Though the shooting script has yet to be finalized, director Alex Zamm (best known in Disneyana circles as the guy who directed that Disney TV movie, "My Date With the President's Daughter") has been hired to helm the project. If all goes according to plan (as things rarely do in the world of Inspector Gadget), movie-goers may once again be able to "Go - Go - Gadget" again by the summer of 2002.

"The Love Bug" (1969): Film-maker J. Max Burnett (Possums) is reportedly set to write and direct this modern day follow-up to the popular Disney film series of the 1960s & 1970s. The current version of the screenplay supposedly deals with a teenager who receives Herbie as a birthday present. Since the boy and the car don't initially get along, complications ensue. Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott, the screenwriting team renown for the punch-up work they did on "Runaway Bride" and "3 Men and a Little Lady" have reportedly been hired to buff up Burnett's original screenplay.

"The Parent Trap" (1961) -- Veteran producer Charles Hirschhorn is hoping to sign star Lindsay Lohan as well as as many cast members from Disney's 1998 remake as possible to appear in what now's being considered as a direct-to-video follow-up to Nancy Meyers' movie. According to the sequel script that's currently being rewritten by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman, the twins' matchmaking schemes get them into even more trouble once they enter high school.