The director upcoming Grinch-inspired horror film The Mean One has revealed that there may already be an outline for a sequel. The upcoming film is one of several contemporary horror films that have put slasher spins on classic children's characters. Alongside 2019's The Banana Splits Movie and next year's Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (which turns classic A.A. Milne characters like Pooh and Piglet into murderous villains now that they have entered the public domain), The Mean One may be ushering in a new, very peculiar, horror subgenre.
EW sat down with director Steven LaMorte for an interview ahead of the release of The Mean One on December 9. During their conversation, he strongly hinted that he already has an entire outline complete for the sequel. While he wouldn't commit to explicitly confirming that this was the case, he promised that "if there was to be a second Mean One, the story would be nuts." Read his full quote below:
Do I have ideas for a sequel to The Mean One? I definitely have an entire outline that may or may not have several pages written, and all of the set pieces, and some sketches. I may or may not. I can't be sure what I have or don't have! But if there was to be a second Mean One, the story would be nuts. Allegedly. If it exists. And I'm not saying that it does!
Everything We Know About The Mean One
The Mean One, which is the fourth cinematic adaptation of Dr. Seuss' classic children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, hasn't debuted yet, so it's not possible for LaMorte to share his sequel ideas any further than that. So far, what is known about the plot of the first film is that it follows Cindy You-Know-Who (Krystle Martin) as she returns to the town of Newville after witnessing a ghastly murder on Christmas night when she was a child. Now that she's back, the killing has begun again, and she sets out to stop the monstrous green killer, who has emerged from the mountains above the town.
The film also stars Chase Mullins, John Bigham, Erik Baker, Flip Kobler, and Amy Schumacher. The Mean One himself will be played by Terrifier 2's David Howard Thornton, adding another iconic indie horror villain to his repertoire alongside that film's Art the Clown. In addition to being directed by LaMorte (who previously toyed with established IP in the 2018 live-action short Powerpuff Girls: The Long Way Back), the film was co-written by Finn and Flip Kobler. Although Finn has less experience writing, Flip began his career working on screenplays for Disney sequels including Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World.
One thing that might preclude The Mean One from getting a sequel is the box office performance of the original film, which doesn't arrive in theaters for two more days. While this level of independent horror film isn't a guaranteed theatrical hit, Terrifier 2's box office run proved that sometimes it's worth it to take a gamble on a smaller project like this. Should it rake in the bucks this weekend, a sequel will seem much more likely and LaMorte will have to crack open that outline once and for all.
Source: EW
