There is something beautiful about movies that stand the test of time. The Harry Potter franchise is definitely one of the most beloved modern franchises in cinematic history, so when HBO Max brought together Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and the rest of the cast of the series for Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, it was a huge streaming hit. Now that we’ve seen that cast come together, naturally we have more beloved casts in mind we’d like to reunite to coincide with recent and upcoming anniversaries.
As proved by the Harry Potter special, there’s a new perspective that a cast and filmmakers can speak to years following starring in a movie, especially when it becomes a classic so many people love and revisit year after year. Let’s get into our picks.
The Hunger Games
It’s almost been a decade since the release of The Hunger Games, which hit theaters in March of 2012 before becoming a major YA franchise. These book adaptations catapulted Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth into a new depth of stardom, and they are still good friends to this day. It’d be exciting to see this trio reflect on their time playing these characters alongside an iconic cast that also included Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland and Lenny Kravitz (to name a few).
This reunion special seems like it’d be the most closely aligned to Harry Potter because it tapped into much of the same audience and through the idea of bringing a YA bestseller to the screen. The cast surely has a ton of fun stories from the sets, and we just miss them, you know?
Superbad
In summer of 2022, Superbad will be 15 years old, and all this time later, the comedy has become an especially memorable film that has very much influenced the landscape of the genre today. Superbad (along with Knocked Up) were the movies that got things started for Seth Rogen prior to making a long list of successful comedies, such as Pineapple Express, Neighbors and The Interview. We’d love to see Rogen back to speak about the making of the movie alongside Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader and Emma Stone.
Just about the entire cast has since become big names, with many of them moving into award-nominated roles. No doubt seeing this cast reunite would be somewhat like a high school reunion where they can reminisce about where they got their starts and how things have changed in their careers together since Superbad, along with the movie’s legacy.
Lord of the Rings
In December of 2021, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring turned twenty years old. The actors did reunite virtually back in 2020, but the anniversary would be a great time for them to perhaps return to Hobbiton and have a full-on special where they recall their time being in the beloved fantasy series. Elijah Wood has spoken about the cast having this on their minds as well, sharing that the COVID pandemic is a major factor in it not coming to fruition.
The Lord of the Rings movies, of course, include the likes of Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Ian McKellan, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving and so forth. It’s the perfect title for a reunion special, and we hope it happens in New Zealand one day.
Titanic
This December, James Cameron’s Titanic turns 25, and it’d be an absolute joy to see Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Victor Garber and so forth back on a boat together to discuss the iconic epic, which won an incredible 11 Oscars and remains to be one of the most commercially successful movies of all time. It was an incredible production in Hollywood history for so many reasons, and a reunion special not unlike the one for Harry Potter is absolutely deserved for Titanic.
We’d especially like to see DiCaprio and Winslet in conversation about their experiences on the film with one another and how it altered their careers. The pair reunited in 2008 to make Revolutionary Road, but that’s still a long time since we’ve seen this duo back together, and we’d bet their conversation would have audiences on the top of the world.
Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino’s breakout film Reservoir Dogs premiered at Sundance in January 1992, making this year its 30-year anniversary. It boasts an incredible cast including Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi, and many film fans would absolutely flip at the idea of the entire cast getting back into their suits and ties to reflect on the making of the classic.
It would be fun to see these talented actors with Quentin Tarantino cruising back through the streets of Los Angeles and sharing some behind-the-scenes details of making the micro-budgeted film that began Tarantino’s award-winning career.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Another beloved movie is reaching a milestone in 2022. Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial will turn 40 this summer. The coming-of-age alien movie is to this day one of the legendary director’s best feature films and on the heels of making West Side Story, there might be raised interest for the filmmaker and his cast, including Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton and E.T., of course, to revisit what it looked like behind the scenes to make the famed film.
The Godfather
Perhaps the biggest movie birthday of 2022 is for The Godfather, which came out fifty years ago as of March 24. Francis Ford Coppola’s epic crime film is still considered to be one of the most quintessential movies of all time and it would be amazing if the filmmaker and some of his cast came together to reflect on the movie and its mark on cinema. Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia and Sofia Coppola could be among the talents placed in the same room to discuss the making of The Godfather during a special reunion.
Clearly there are a lot of great movies with anniversaries to celebrate this year, and hopefully studios and streaming services such as HBO Max continue to explore specials like this for movie fans.
