‘Goonies 2’: Corey Feldman Reveals More Details About Story Direction


Goonies 2 is the movie that fans have been clamoring for since the first one landed in theaters in 1985. An undeniable box office hit — Box Office Mojo reports that it hit $61.3 million on its initial release ($144 million by today’s standards) — all of the original stars are game, as is director Richard Donner.

But while the willingness is there, the movement on the sequel itself has been rather slow. Still, a recent Corey Feldman interview is sure to get fans talking once more.

While Yahoo! Movies covered a lot with Feldman, including his memories of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, the Goonies 2 stuff really stands out because it reveals two things: a) a previous plot pitch; and b) the actual direction that Donner plans to take with the final product.

Here’s the interesting part of the interview as it relates to Goonies 2.

“What I would like to see and what the reality of the project might be will no doubt be two different things,” Feldman said.

“Sean [Astin, original star] actually came up with a concept a while ago…. I remember one night, he and I sat down and actually mapped everything out and pitched it to Richard Donner. Donner was really impressed with the work we put into it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right direction.”

Exactly what direction did Astin and Feldman decide to take for Goonies 2?

“What we came up with [had] far too big a budget for what they wanted to take on,” he explained. “We wrote something that was Indiana Jones-type big, with the characters going to different countries on this big adventure, with all these special effects. It was maybe a little too much. But I think that’s what you’ve kind of got to do in a sequel.”

While Donner said that he liked where the pair were going with the idea, he was instead opting for a smaller and more personal film.

Donner further explained that the “one thing you have to remember is we’re not trying to make a big epic movie here,” adding that they wanted to make something truer to the original, “which is more character-driven and full of heart.”

As a result of this expectation, Feldman added, any Goonies 2 effort would have to be based in reality and take place in Astoria, the original location.

“That’s where we met and fell in love with these characters. I think that’s the biggest clue I got to where they were heading with the sequel. That was a year ago, so who knows if that’s still the course of action.”

Of course, the “safe” thing to do with a sequel would be to go with a remake. The original offers a winning blueprint from a story perspective.

There is the possibility that seeing beloved characters older and more world-weary could take away from some of that original “Goonies magic.”

However, it’s rare that you can get 100 percent participation from cast and crew on a film that is 30-years-old, so it would be a pretty big missed opportunity to play to the film’s original fan base.

At the end of the day, however, Goonies is a children’s film, and it would be difficult to stay true to that spirit without bringing in a younger cast.

That said, fans of the original, what do you think?

Would a sequel work better than a remake, and if you do go the sequel route with a second Goonies film, would the original cast take more of a backseat to a younger cast?

Also, what do you think about Corey Feldman and Sean Astin’s idea for a Goonies 2 as well as the direction that Donner is actually going to take?

[Image via screen grab from original film]

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