Why haven’t they made The Breakfast Club 2?

Everyone who stands between 35 and 45 has a favorite scene from The Breakfast Club.

• Allison – The Basket Case, played by Ally Sheedy – shaking her hair to make snow, in the form of dandruff, fall on her No. 2 pencil on Desk landscape.
• Brian – The Brain, played by Anthony Michael Hall – confessing that he once tried to kill himself with a flare gun, and then getting high and telling us that “chicks can’t hold dey smoke.”
• Every clash between Andrew – The Athlete, played by Emilio Estevez – and Bender – The Criminal, played by Judd Nelson. And every clash Bender instigates.
• And, of course, The Princess – Claire – played by Molly Ringwald. I know the scene you’re thinking of, and of course I’m thinking of it, too. But beyond that, I was always partial to the scene where Claire and Allison share a friendly moment. Why? Because, as Claire says to Allison, “you’re letting me.”

So, in the 23 years since The Breakfast Club unspooled in theaters, why haven’t these five characters gotten back together?

It’s the same old story. Because no one can agree on anything.

John Hughes, the writer/producer/director, said no way in 1999, because the characters “would never come back together again” and that there “isn’t anything in their lives after high school relevant to that day.”

I beg to differ, and you’ll find that in my next post.

Earlier in this decade, there seemed to be some movement for a sequel, but that fell through again. Why, is anyone’s guess.

And then there’s the question of whether there should be a sequel. I’m all for films staying put without generating a sequel, regardless of success. That’s why you’ll never see a post for Forrest Gump 2 on these pages.

But some stories and characters demand re-visitation. The members of The Breakfast Club are five of them.

For those of us in high school when The Breakfast Club debuted – well, we related to these characters. We knew them, were friends with them, and were them. And like our flesh and blood classmates, we want to know what happened to them after graduation.

How does that usually come about?

High school reunions, of course.

In 1999, Hughes was quoted as saying there’s nothing relevant to high school that would get those five characters in the same room again.

Obviously he never went to any of his high school reunions.

Which leads us to: The Breakfast Club: Reunion.