Sequel to 'It's a Wonderful Life' announced, Internet scoffs

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Film stars Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster relax on May 19, 1948, in an automobile interior on the set of “Sorry, Wrong Number” in Hollywood.

(Associated Press)

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1944: Canadian actress Deanna Durbin eating an early breakfast while sitting under a hairdryer on location for the filming of Universal’s musical “Can’t Help Singing.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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1955: Director George Sidney, left, wears a diving mask while directing American swimmer and actress Esther Williams on the set of his film “Jupiter’s Darling.” The cameraman is wearing scuba gear. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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1948: Actress Ingrid Bergman sits next to the camera during a break in filming on the set of director Victor Fleming’s film “Joan of Arc.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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1932: Stan Laurel, with a blackened eye, and Oliver Hardy during a break in the filming of “Towed in a Hole,” directed by George Marshall. [For the record: This caption previously stated that the film was 1928’s “The Finishing Touch.”] (John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)

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February 1958: Montgomery Clift on location in Indiana with Elizabeth Taylor for the filming of “Raintree County.” (BIPS/Getty Images)

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Circa 1935: Mary Boland and Charles Ruggles with writer Herbert Fields, film editor Richard Currier, script girl Evelyn Earl, director Alfred Santell, cameraman Alfred Gilks, head electrician “Sailor” Holton, Dean Jagger and Leila Hyams on the set of Paramount’s “People Will Talk.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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1967: John Wayne, with his son, on location in Mexico for the filming of “The War Wagon.” (Keystone/Getty Images)

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Circa 1938: John Payne, who was once a wrestler, became a general all-purpose leading man mainly in westerns and musicals. He is keeping fit on location in Pensacola, Fla., during filming of “Wings of the Navy.” (Homer Van Pelt/Getty Images)

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1951: Clark Gable having a shave during filming of the MGM production “Across the Wide Missouri.” (MGM Studios/Getty Images)

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Circa 1923: Mildred Harris, a leading lady and first wife of Charlie Chaplin, is applying make-up on the beach between production shoots. (Edward Gooch/Getty Images)

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Circa 1937: Dorothy Lamour, playing with “Jiggs” the chimpanzee, while on location in Palm Springs for “Her Jungle Love.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Comedy team Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin performing on the set of the television show “Hollywood vs TV.” (Gene Lester/Getty Images)

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Circa 1915: Filming a Broncho Billy movie at Essanay Studios in Chicago. Broncho Billy, America’s first cowboy hero of the silver screen, is the second figure from the left, wearing chaps and a white hat. (Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)

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1955: Charlton Heston, left, rides on horseback while shaking hands with Yul Brynner, who stands in a chariot before filming the chase sequence on the set of director Cecil B. DeMille’s film, “The Ten Commandments.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Barbra Streisand offers a cup of coffee to Prince Charles as they chat on a set at Warner Bros. studio in Los Angeles on March 19, 1974. The Prince is visiting Southern California while his ship is docked in San Diego. (DFS/Associated Press)

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Billy Curtis, in a gorilla costume, chats with Charlton Heston on the set of “The Planet of the Apes” in 1967. (Associated Press)

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Comedian Chevy Chase gets his ear licked by his “Oh! Heavenly Dog” costar Benji on Sept. 6, 1979. (Nick Ut/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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Al Pacino, center, is on the set of “Author! Author!” in New York City’s Washington Square on Oct. 20, 1981. (David Handschuh/Associated Press)

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Actress Mary Pickford, left, and director Frances Marion are together on an early movie set in this undated photo. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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Audrey Hepburn strums a guitar for her costar George Peppard between takes on the set of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on Dec. 7, 1960. (Associated Press)

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In this Aug. 17, 1984, photo, actor Roger Moore, as British secret agent James Bond, is seen with his costars Tanya Roberts, left, and Grace Jones on the set of “A View to a Kill,” near Paris, France. (Alexis Duclos/Associated Press)

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Baseball star Joe DiMaggio grasps a trapeze bar while visiting Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida on the set of “Trapeze” in Paris on Aug. 29, 1955. (Associated Press)

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Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon, standing, are shown with Novak’s mother, Blanche, and Lemmon’s father, John, as they film the comedy “The Notorious Landlady,” in California on Sept., 26, 1961. (Associated Press)

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Seen on the set of the television comedy series “Car 54, Where Are You?” on Nov. 16, 1961, are, from left, prop man George Stevens, script supervisor Barbara Robinson, actor Joe E. Ross, the show’s creator Nat Hiken, and behind Hiken, assistant director Mickey Rich. (Associated Press)

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Movie makeup man John O’Gorman uses a lipstick brush in preparing actress Ursula Andress for her starring role in “Dr. No”, on location in Jamaica, British West Indies, on May 17, 1962. The heat and tropical atmosphere of Jamaica caused quite a problem for O’Gorman and his staff. The make-up started to run so quickly that he had to touch up the principals between shots. (Associated Press)

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Jane Fonda, teenage daughter of actor Henry Fonda, relaxes on Aug. 31, 1959, between scenes of “Tall Story,” her first film. (Associated Press)

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Director Michael Anderson talks with Sophia Loren on the set of “Operation Crossbow” at MGM’s British Studios near London on Dec. 10, 1964. (Associated Press)

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German actor Hardy Krueger, right, is with British actor David Niven on the set of “Paper Tiger” at a military training area in Bavaria. (Claus Hampel/ ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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Actor Yul Brynner demonstrates his fast draw prowess for Israeli actress Daliah Lavi on the set of “Catlow,” being filmed in Almeria, Spain, on May 21, 1971. (Associated Press)

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Actor Larry Hagman on the set of his TV series “Dallas” on Feb. 2, 1979. (George Brich/Associated Press)

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Ringo Starr, foreground and Frank Zappa are on the set of the movie “200 Motels,” directed by Tony Palmer with music by Zappa, in February 1971. (Associated Press)

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Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra on the set of “High Society” on Jan. 19, 1956, in Los Angeles. (Associated Press)

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Cliff Robertson relaxes on the set of “PT 109" on location in Florida on Feb. 15, 1963. Robertson portrays Lt. John F. Kennedy. (Associated Press)

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A film crew works a snow machine during the filming of a movie in the Hollywood on Aug. 16, 1944. (Associated Press)

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Phoebe, a mynah bird and one of the stars of the TV series “Petticoat Junction,” perches on the back of a chair during a break in filming in Hollywood on Aug. 9, 1963. (David F. Smith/Associated Press)

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Elizabeth Taylor leaves the set of “The VIPs” at London Airport on March 20, 1963. Taylor was following in the wake of her costar, Richard Burton, who had stormed off the set complaining about the crowd of onlookers milling about. (Victor Boynton/Associated Press)

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Buster Keaton, comic film actor from the silent era, dressed as Santa Claus, and Bobbi Shaw as Santa’s helper are on the set of “Beach Blanket Bingo” in Los Angeles on Dec. 17, 1964. (DAD/Associated Press)

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Three stars the series of the TV western “Rawhide,” on the set in Hollywood on July 20, 1965: from left, David Watson, Clint Eastwood and Raymond St. Jacques. (Associated Press)

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Dressed for his part as “Doctor Dolittle,” British actor Rex Harrison and actress Samantha Eggar, with chimpanzee Chee-Chee, sit down to watch the Football World Cup Final between England and West Germany during filming at Castle Coombe, Dorset, on July 30, 1966. (Associated Press)

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Orson Welles directs a scene from “Citizen Kane” on location in Hollywood in July 1940, with cinematographer Gregg Toland handling the camera. Welles also starred in the film. (Associated Press)

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The American soldiers in this photo are real but the typical French cafe they are visiting is just a motion picture set at the Denham film studios in England, on June 25, 1942, where a movie about the war is in production. Joyce Howard (nearer the camera) and Carla Lehmann, both film actresses, are helping to make their American visitors welcome at the Cafe Du Nord. (Associated Press)

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Young actor Michael Douglas, right, gets advice from his father, Kirk, as the elder Douglas visited a Hollywood studio to watch his son work in his first film on May 13, 1969, in Los Angeles. Michael Douglas plays the title role in “Hail, Hero.” (Associated Press)

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Klieg lights blaze on this set at 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but can’t thaw the artificial snow banks and frost-covered branches during filming of the movie “Night And Day”. Camera boom swings along as Cary Grant, left, and Henry Stephenson ride through the winter scene in Hollywood on Aug. 28, 1945. The movie is a biography of the composer Cole Porter, played by Grant. (Associated Press)

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Rex Ingram, left, and Dane Clark take time out from their screen chores in “Moonrise,” a Hollywood production on April 23,1948, to feed the hound dogs. (Associated Press)

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Elizabeth Taylor hugs her son Michael Wilding Jr. at the Rome studio where she and Richard Burton, in his Marc Antony costume, are filming “Cleopatra,” in February 1962. Other children are Elizabeth Todd, back to camera, daughter of the late Mike Todd; and Christopher Wilding, right foreground, the other son of Taylor and Wilding. (Associated Press)

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James Whitmore points out buildings of the Manhattan skyline to British actress Deborah Kerr on a Hollywood sound stage, Sept. 18, 1949. The backdrop was prepared for a scene in “Please Believe Me.” (Frank Filan/Associated Press)

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Technicians rig wires and charges in preparation for blasts and fires to be set off in buidings along a recreated Los Angeles street for the film “The War of the Worlds” on June 6, 1952. The houses are painted to match existing buildings in Los Angeles. (Ellis R. Bosworth/Associated Press)

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Mitzi Gaynor chats with her mother, Pauline Gerber, during a visit to the Hollywood set of “Anything Goes” on July 25, 1955. (Associated Press)

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Ingrid Bergman checks her makeup in a mirror held by French film director Jean Renoir on the set of “Elena and Her Men” at the Saint Maurice studios near Paris on Dec. 6, 1955. (Associated Press)

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Waiting for the filming to start, 14-year-old Sandra Dee sits at a school desk on the set of “Until They Sail,” on March 6, 1957, in Hollywood. The young actress makes her film debut with costars Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons and Paul Newman. (Associated Press)

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General view of the set built at Chatsworth, Calif., for “The Big Fisherman” on Oct. 24, 1958. The buildings depict the city of Tiberias built on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. In the foreground are extras dressed as Roman soldiers awaiting their cue to ride. (David F. Smith/Associated Press)

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Grace Kelly and Alec Guinness are shown on location during filming of “The Swan” in Asheville, N.C., on Dec. 29, 1955. (Associated Press)

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During the filming of Hal Wallis’ “Loving You” on May 15, 1957, the young Elvis Presley has his locks shorn every 10 days by studio barber Ramiro Jaloma. The clipping took place in Presley’s dressing room. (Associated Press)

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Nat “King” Cole and Ruby Dee relax on the set of “St. Louis Blues” at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood on Oct. 28, 1957. (Associated Press)

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Director Jerry Lewis, right, checks camera angle on the set of “The Nutty Professor” on Dec. 3, 1962, in Los Angeles. (David F. Smith/ Associated Press)

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Billy Wilder, right, with Kim Novak and Dean Martin on the set of the film “Kiss Me Stupid” on Sept. 1, 1964. (Associated Press)

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Tuesday Weld and Steve McQueen on the set of “The Cincinnati Kid” in 1965. Cameraman Phil Lathrop is taking a light meter reading before filming the scene. (MGM/Associated Press)

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A chariot driven by actor Stephen Boyd, left foreground, smashes into camera crew on June 17, 1958, during filming of “Ben Hur” in Rome. Charlton Heston, center, veers his chariot away from the mishap. Sun umbrellas topple and crewmen scatter, foreground, as the camera position is overrun. Two cameramen were injured and one expensive camera was destroyed in the accident. (Associated Press)

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Saint Joan, played by actress Jean Seberg, center, stands chained to a post during filming of the Otto Preminger’s “Saint Joan” at the Shepperton Studios in Shepperton, England, on Feb. 21, 1957. (Associated Press)

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Scores of teen-agers film a musical number for “Bye, Bye, Birdie” on Jan. 10, 1963. Director George Sidney is on the camera crane. (Don Brinn/ Associated Press)

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Director Michael Cimino, left, talks with actor Robert De Niro, wearing beret, during a break in filming of “The Deer Hunter” on location in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 11, 1977. (Neal Ulevich/Associated Press)

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Janet Leigh treats her husband Tony Curtis’s left eye during shooting of “The Vikings” on July 12, 1957 near Dinard in Brittany, France. ( Associated Press)

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A model of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is blown up in “41 Days of Terror” on Oct. 25, 1960. (Nobuyuki Masaki/ Associated Press)

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Jerry Lewis, left, and Dean Martin are in costume for “Pardners,” on location near Phoenix, Ariz., in December 1955. ( Associated Press)

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A scale model of a Los Angeles street goes up in flames on a Hollywood sound stage during filming of the scene from “War of the Worlds” on June 6, 1952. (Ellis R. Bosworth/ Associated Press)

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George Hamilton walks on the roof of the Hotel Louvre during filming of “Jack of Diamonds” on Oct. 17, 1966, in Paris. (Jean Jacques Levy/Associated Press)

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Debbie Reynolds, dressed for her role in “The Singing Nun” on Nov. 15, 1965.

(Associated Press)

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Sophia Loren takes a moment from the filming of a tense scene to amuse the cast of “Operation Crossbow” on March 16, 1965. (Associated Press)

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John Wayne looks through the camera to check the next set-up during filming of “The Green Berets” on Nov. 17, 1967. Wayne directed and starred in the film. (Associated Press)

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While the production crew readies a bridge scene, actress Elizabeth Taylor stands by during filming of her TV tour of London, her native city, on Sept. 26, 1963. A platform was built to lift Liz higher at the bridge wall. ( Associated Press)

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Football player O.J. Simpson is shown in action for a television show, “The Last Ten Yards,” during filming in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 2, 1969. (Associated Press)

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Stars Omar Sharif and Geraldine Chaplin wait while a photography crew checks a camera during filming of “Doctor Zhivago” in Spain. (MGM/Associated Press)

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Actor Charles Bronson, at Sing Sing in Ossining, N.Y., on March 30, 1972, while cameras roll for “The Valachi Papers.” (Ron Freh/ Associated Press)

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In this July 26, 1971, photo, Alfred Hitchcock, right, discusses filming with actress Anna Massey, one of the stars of “Frenzy”, in Covent Garden Market in London. (Leonard Brown/ Associated Press)

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Muhammad Ali, center, listens to actors Ernest Borgnine, left, and John Marley at the 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, Fla.,on Oct. 6, 1976, during filming of “The Greatest,” the story of Ali. ( Associated Press)

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During a break in the filming of “The Bells of St. Mary’s” in Hollywood on June 8, 1945, star Bing Crosby’s oldest son, Gary, shoots a war bond short. Crosby and the film’s director, Leo McCarey, look on behind the camera. (Associated Press)

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Director Ron Howard takes a seat behind the camera during the production of his comedy “Gung Ho” while on location at the Allegheny County Airport near Duquesne, Pa., in August 1985. At right is his father, actor Rance Howard, who has a cameo.

(Keith B. Srakocic/Associated Press)

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Debbie Reynolds enjoys clowning around and winking for the cameraman during the production of the comedy “The Pleasure of His Company,” which also stars Fred Astaire as her father, on May 10, 1961.

(Associated Press)

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Director Woody Allen chats with Oscar-winning actor Jose Ferrer, right, during the production of his comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy” in New York’s Upper West Side on Aug. 18, 1981. (Loren Portnow/ Associated Press)

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The legendary movie monster Godzilla creates a dust storm during the production of the Toho production company’s 24th Godzilla movie at its studio in Tokyo on Aug. 3, 2000. During the production of “Godzilla vs. Megaguirus,” 1,500 of the monster’s fans applied to a week-long “see Godzilla filming” tour organized by Toho and a travel agency. (Tsugufumi Matsumoto/Associated Press)

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A real chimp, Kelly, is getting a human-style plastic nose for his role in “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” because his nose is flatter than the actors in ape makeup. A film technician, left, applies the nose while actors Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowell look on in Hollywood on Jan. 20, 1971. (David F. Smith/Associated Press)

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From left, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison sit on bicycles during the filming of their second feature film, the musical-comedy “Help!” in Nassau the Bahamas in February 1965. (Associated Press)

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The seminal Swedish filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman, right, relaxes while on location on the islet of Faro off Gotland Island in the Baltic Sea for his Oscar-winning drama “Through a Glass Darkly” in 1960. At left is his longtime cinematographer Sven Nyqvist. (Associated Press)

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Director Francis Ford Coppola instructs his crew as they set up to shoot a scene in New York’s Little Italy for “The Godfather III” on May 19, 1990. (Gene Page/Associated Press)

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Special effects artists shoot the model of the dirigible the Hindenberg during the filming of Robert Wise’s “The Hindenberg” on Aug. 18, 1974, at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. (David F. Smith/ Associated Press)

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The influential pop artist and underground filmmaker Andy Warhol is seen behind the camera during filming in New York City in December 1967. Also in the picture are actors Patrick Tilden-Close, right, Taylor Mead and sound man Fred Hughes, who is kneeling with his microphone. (Associated Press)

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The renowned artist Pablo Picasso sculpts a dove for the final scene for a film dedicated to his life and works on Oct. 22, 1953, in Vallaruis in the South of France. Director Luciano Emmer looks on. (Associated Press)

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Roman Polanski shoots on the streets of his birthplace, Paris, France, for his mystery thriller, “Frantic,” starring Harrison Ford, in 1988. ( Associated Press)

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Holy Caped Crusader! Adam West, star of the ABC-TV series “Batman,” stands beside the Batmobile while using his “Bat Radio” on the set in Hollywood on March 18, 1966. (Associated Press)

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Two-time Oscar-winning film director Oliver Stone (“Platoon,” “Born on the Fourth of July”) gets a look at a camera angle for a motorcade scene in his film “JFK” in Dallas, Texas, on April 17, 1991. (Pat Sullivan/Associated Press)

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Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire get ready to shoot a scene at the foot of the Eiffel Tower for Stanley Donen’s musical comedy “Funny Face” on June 20, 1956. (Associated Press)

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Arthur Penn, who began his career in television and directed such classics as 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde” and 1969’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” looks at s scene through the camera on Nov. 27, 1985, during filming of his 11th film in 27 years, “Target.” (Associated Press)

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Funny man Dom DeLuise stars and directs the action-comedy movie “Hot Stuff” in Miami in October 1978. (Associated Press)

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Camerman Charles Van Enger allows Eva Gabor to look through the camera finder on the Los Angeles set of her film, “Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl,” on Dec. 19, 1953. (Associated Press)

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Writer-director Edward Dmytryk was a member of the Hollywood Ten, a group of high profile writers and directors who were jailed for refusing to testify during the Communist witch hunt in Hollywood that began in the late 1940s. After serving time, he testified again in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities where he fully cooperated. Dmytryk is shown at work on March, 29, 1957. (Associated Press)

By Mark Olsen

Nov. 18, 2013

5:51 PM

Nothing unites the people of the Internet quite like hatin’ on something together. So the press release Monday afternoon announcing a sequel to the beloved holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” was met with the sort of overwhelming derision that really brings people together.

Titled “It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story,” the sequel was written by Bob Farnsworth and Martha Bolton. Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions are collaborating on the project and, though no director is currently attached, Monday’s announcement declared that the film, with a proposed budget between $25 million and $32 million, was looking to shoot in Louisiana to be ready for the 2015 holiday season.

It was unclear whether there would be issues with the notoriously complicated rights to the original.

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Frank Capra’s 1946 film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, director and James Stewart for lead actor. The sequel centers around the unlikable grandson of Stewart’s character George Bailey, also named George Bailey, who learns how much better off the world would be had he never been born, his life forever changed by a visit from an angel.

The project is being made with the participation of actress Karolyn Grimes, who at the age of 6 played the role of Zuzu in the original film and delivered one of its signature lines: “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” Other surviving actors from the original film are also in talks to be in the sequel, the producers said.

In a statement, Grimes said, “Of course, no one can remake ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ But this new script absolutely provides the answers to the questions everyone’s been asking for so many years.”

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Among those responding online to the announcement was L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan, who asked, “Is this film necessary?” The Hollywood Reporter’s awards writer Scott Feinberg declared the idea “a disgrace to Jimmy Stewart’s memory.”

As Vadim Rizov, writing for the Dissolve, uncovered, the project has been lurking about for some time, with an extended pitch video online since the summer of 2012, just waiting to reveal itself. The video trumpets the new film as being “in color and later in 3D.”