Just when you thought the last time you’d ever see The Brat Pack again was in the 1990 rom-com Betsy’s Wedding, many former teen actors that made up ‘80s yuppie culture reunited in Andrew McCarthy’s Brats documentary. The 2024 movie release did a great job showing how being part of the coolest group of the ‘80s impacted their careers and their lives. After the success that Brats had, Rob Lowe and Demi Moore are actively trying to get another Brat Pack reunion underfoot and I want this to happen so much!
St. Elmo’s Fire gave audiences a different type of coming-of-age story. Instead of seeing a typical teen ‘80s film about high school life, we’re introduced to a group of recent college grads adjusting to post-university life. It’s been almost 40 years since the coming-of-age movie, and yet the Hulu documentary Brats reminded us how much we want The Brat Pack together again.
Well, Deadline gave us some good news that two Brat Pack members, Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, are actively trying to make this happen with a possible St. Elmo’s Fire sequel. The Parks and Recreation actor spoke on Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast about recent updates of the upcoming movie and I’m so psyched for it:
We’re very much in contact now because we are actively trying to do [the] St. Elmo’s Fire sequel. It’s going a little more slowly than I would have liked. But that’s a good thing because we’re trying to find the right writer and the right story. But all of the actors, everybody is on board. Everybody is excited.
That’s really exciting to know that everyone is on board for the new movie. It wouldn’t be a faithful sequel without all of the amazingly talented cast like Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, Mare Winningham, and more. Now that St. Elmo’s Fire showed us what the group of friends have been up to since graduating college, it would be great to see how they all adjusted to careers, marriage, parenthood, and the like while in their ‘60s. Hopefully this time around, Demi Moore doesn’t have to go through scenes like the St. Elmo’s Fire cringeworthy moment when her character, Jules, tries to freeze herself in an empty apartment. The second time around, I’d like to believe she’d like the windows closed, please.
Children of the ‘80s are sure to get together to see a St. Elmo’s Fire sequel so they can relive the glory days of seeing The Brat Pack on the big screen again. Rob Lowe spoke about what we could look forward to seeing in the potential sequel:
I think now, the theme of St. Elmo’s Fire today is that it’s never too late for happiness. Our kids are out of school and maybe some of us have been divorced and maybe somebody has been falling ill — all the things that you deal with as you get to our ages, this is an opportunity to explore those themes with characters that people know and love. And I think as opposed to just a money run, let’s just reboot it because people know the title of it. I actually think there’s a lot to be said about why we’re doing it. And I’m super excited about it. Hopefully we can pull it off.
It looks like a possible St. Elmo’s Fire sequel seeks to explore the realistic life experiences that can happen when you reach your ‘60s. Audiences that grew up during the ‘80s will resonate with those powerful themes and younger generations today can know what to expect when reaching the golden years.
I’d like to believe that it was through the success of Brats that a St. Elmo’s Fire sequel is being talked about right now. It holds a critics’ score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and 60% from audiences which means it was loved by critics those with a Hulu subscription. The documentary can easily open viewers’ eyes to things they didn’t know about The Brat Pack like how some actors weren’t fond of the coined term and didn’t keep in touch with each other much after filming their movies. But with Brats being appreciated for its dose of nostalgia and its cultural impact, seeing everyone reunite again would show audiences The Brat Pack doesn’t die.
Even though a St. Elmo’s Fire sequel is still in the talking stages thanks in part to Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, it still makes me very excited about the idea of seeing actors who dominated ‘80s movies come together again. As Lowe mentioned Brats “only added to the excitement around” St. Elmo’s Fire and its sequel, it proves the streaming documentary was a nostalgic reminder to celebrate cherished movies no matter how long ago they came out and that it’s never too late to reunite for one last movie. You can see how members of The Brat Pack are doing now in Brats.
