I have wanted the underrated 2010s fantasy movie, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, to get a sequel for nine years, but I am finally admitting it will not happen. Released in 2016, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is based on a 2011 novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs, and follows teenager Jake Portman (Asa ʙuттerfield), who uncovers a mystery that spans throughout time, finding himself in Miss Peregrine’s home for “peculiar children.” The Peculiars each have different powers and live inside a time-looped house set for September 3, 1943, which keeps their existence a secret.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was directed by Tim Burton, and grossed $296.5 million at the box office worldwide, doubling its production budget of $110 million. Yet, despite its box office success and Burton’s notoriety, the fantasy movie has not released a sequel in the 9 years since. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children received mixed reviews from critics due to its flimsy plot, especially considering the amount of lore the original book offered. However, the film is far from Tim Burton’s worst movie, and I have long believed that Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children deserves a sequel.

Why I’ve Wanted Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children 2

Tim Burton’s Movie Had Potential To Expand With The Books

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children certainly deserves a sequel, despite its lukewarm reception, because Ransom Riggs’ fantasy universe has much more to offer. Following the movie’s opening weekend in 2016, Fox’s chief of domestic distribution Chris Aronson spoke to Variety about the possibility of a sequel, stating that “It’s a promising start, but it’s too early to tell. There are multiple books and they are best-sellers, so the door is open.” The fact that there is so much literary content available to adapt into a movie proved promising for a potential Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children sequel.

One of the main criticisms of the 2016 movie was its approach to the lore. Tim Burton has always been brilliant at creating visually spectacular movies, but critics felt that Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children fell flat in its story, especially considering how fantastic the books are. This can be felt in the film, as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children seems to focus more on its visuals than constructing a compelling narrative that makes you want more films. Consequently, I think the fantasy movie deserves a sequel in order to rectify this, including more of the book’s lore.

Furthermore, despite the movie’s mixed-to-positive reception, and its average box office result, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was still a particularly notable film. The movie was nominated for 10 awards upon release, including three at the Teen Choice Awards alone, and its jam-packed cast has made it a standout in many actors’ filmographies. What is even more surprising is that Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children became a Netflix streaming success, ranking number one in Netflix’s Global Top 10, which proves that the film is still popular enough for a potential sequel almost a decade since its release.

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children 2 Feels Very Unlikely At This Point

Cinema Trends Have Moved On From 2010’s Dark Fantasy Era

Unfortunately, the box office result for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was not as impressive as Hollywood would have liked, as the industry tends to expect movies to make a profit of more than double its budget. The 2016 movie only just managed to break even with its box office result, so this, alongside its general criticisms, meant that a sequel was unlikely immediately following its release. However, it is still strange that Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children 2 never happened at all, considering how the Tim Burton film has somehow held up even nine years later.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children has become a staple 2010s fantasy movie, and this is evident in the movie’s impressive popularity on Netflix, nearly a decade since its release. Usually, the length of time between movies would deter the release of a sequel, as it’s been so long since the first film. However, a sequel shouldn’t be a problem for director Tim Burton, considering his Beetlejuice Beetlejuice movie was released a staggering 36 years after Beetlejuice, yet still managed to perform well at the box office. Yet, a Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children sequel still feels unlikely.

Dark fantasy movies like itself and Alice in Wonderland were at the height of popularity in the 2010s, and current genre trends mean that a sequel released now wouldn’t do as well. Therefore, it has been suggested that the only potential way for Burton’s fantasy movie to be successful in the 2020s is through something like a Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children reboot TV show. In fact, a modern TV series revitalization would improve on the original film, allowing time for the amount of exploration in the best-selling books. Unfortunately, there are no current plans for such a project.

What Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children 2 Would Be About

A Sequel Could Have Followed Ransom Riggs’ Hollow City Book

Considering there is a sequel book, we can take a good guess as to what Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children 2 would be about. Released in 2014, Hollow City is set directly after the events of the first book, and follows Jacob and his friends fleeing from Miss Peregrine’s home to the “peculiar capital of the world,” London. The book-to-movie adaptation would likely have explored the same story, with Jacob and his friends finding another time loop, and learning of Miss Wren, another ymbryne, who they track down to potentially help Miss Peregrine turn back into a human.

Interestingly, 20th Century Fox, the distributors of the 2016 movie, were originally so eager to adapt Ransom Riggs’ first novel that they actually bought the rights to the book before it was even published. Therefore, a potential Hollow City sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children would have been next on the cards. However, due to its average box office earnings and the criticism of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’s rushed plot, Fox ultimately decided not to follow through with, what could have been a brilliant fantasy franchise in the 2010s led by the notorious Tim Burton.

Sources: Variety