Last fall, there were three '80s remakes in theaters: Craig Gillespie's Fright Night, Craig Brewer's Footloose and Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s The Thing. Out of the three, Footloose was the highest-grossing and had the best reviews. Many felt the underdog of the three was Fright Night. DreamWorks hadn't planned on their previous film, The Help, having such staying power in theaters and built up a following that ultimately ended in a Best Picture nomination and Best Supporting Actress win at the Academy Awards. The film was seemingly ignored by the moviegoing populace but found a cult audience that supported it.
Still, it seems it wasn't enough. DreamWorks has reportedly sold off the Fright Night name to a smaller studio. Their plans include making a sequel to the film (supposedly gearing up for production in Romania of all places) and having it become a "brand" ala "Tales from the Crypt". The original Fright Night from 1985 did have a sequel, Fright Night Part II released 4 years later.
It's clear that none of the original cast from Fright Night (Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, David Tennent) will return. There's not much from the remake that a sequel can pick up from, unless they go the route of "the exact same thing is happening to a new set of characters". And, really, who wants that? Fright Night (2011) is a fun and dark horror/comedy that deserves better. Would you see this new sequel without any of the original actors?