In October of 2014 Reel FX Creative Studios along with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation released The Book of Life. This film follows the journey of Manolo Sanchez, voiced by Diego Luna, who has to deal with the pressures of following the family tradition of bull fighting and following his heart as a guitarist, all while him and his best friend Joaquin, voiced by Channing Tatum, fight for the love of Maria who if voiced by Zoe Saldana. This love triangle brings out the competitiveness of the Gods who wager on which of the two will win her heart. The bet ends up taking Manolo on an adventure into the land of the dead and face his greatest fears.

Directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro, The Book of Life went on to earn $100.5 million worldwide and receive great reviews. This is one of the biggest breakout independent animated films of this decade in the United States. Due to it’s success, at this year’s Annecy Festival in France Reek FX Animation and director Jorge R. Gutierrez has announced that they are proceeding with a sequel to The Book of Life as reported by Variety. Besides Gutierrez it is unknown who will be attached to the project yet as Gutierrez commented, “my dream would be to get the band back together again”.

Reel FX CEO Steve O’Brien had this to say about the project, “The Book of Life is one of those rare films that has really continued to build long after its release, there is  an amazing and passionate underground fan base.” Gutierrez and his wife Sandra Equihua along with the art director for The Book of Life Paul Sullivan had gone as far as to create a poster fora sequel to The Book of Life for an art exhibition for hypothetical film sequels, fans reacted very positively to this to the point where Gutierrez had to explain that it was just for the art show.

Sequels always are always tough to make as creative teams have to capitalize on what made the first film great and intoduce new elements to keep audiences interested. If they
can continue with a solid story like in the first film I think they will do fine. When I took my daughter to see this film I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The festive colors of the film as well as the message that even though your family members may have passed, as long as you keep them in your memory they will always be with you were some of our favorite elements of the film. Are you a fan of the first film? Would you like to see a sequel or just let it stand alone?

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Source: Variety