AI art, overactive online imaginations, the tabloid press, and social media can combine sometimes to start a feeding frenzy over almost nothing. As is the case with a sequel to the much-loved 1980s children’s adventure movie The Goonies.
Last week, it was breathlessly announced in the UK tabloid press that the original cast will reunite for a sequel set for release in 2026.
It was first published by UK newspaper The Sun. It was then picked up by fellow tabloid The Mirror, before even the Daily Mail got in on the act. From this point on it was contagion.
The usual tabloid press bullshit signs were there. No official announcement, no reputable outlets reporting it, just “A source”. This is what tabloids do now. Showbiz staffers trawl the internet – including sites like this one – looking for snippets to copy and paste for column inches and clicks, or to spin out into articles with minimum effort. This is why legacy media is dead.
So then social media did its thing, people tagged friends, who tagged other friends, and when it started trending the circle was complete. Tabloids can then start copying and pasting links to various X feeds that “prove” their story.
Hastily knocked up fan posters then get treated as gospel, and shared, and the frenzy increases.
People still fall for it. Not a day goes by when we don’t get a hot tip into our inbox over some sequel, prequel, or reboot that is pure, made-up clickbait.
The trouble is, that it is all nonsense. There is no sequel to The Goonies coming in 2026… yet!
Now, with all this happening online, it is absolutely possible that somebody at the studio notices, and puts down the cocaine long enough to make a few phone calls. But right now…?
The poster that started it all was created by a Facebook user named Rumbledore and was posted in April. The user has admitted it was an April Fools gag. Dexerto, The Mary Sue, and even Snopes debunked it. That didn’t stop a tabloid hack from stumbling across it and using it as a trigger.
While a well-paid legacy sequel gig is a solid and reliable project for actors, it is still a decently large cast to assemble. Sean Astin is still working, Josh Brolin’s career has exploded and even Ke Huy Quan is an Oscar winner now.
Jeff Cohen, 50, who played Chunk, is an entertainment lawyer. John Matuszak, the ex-NFL player who portrayed Sloth in the movie, passed away in 1989 at age 38.
So it could happen, but it would take time and almost certainly isn’t happening right now. As always, ignore the tabloid press on all matters on movies.