On The Geek Gossip Podcast, both me and my brother Artie are huge fans of the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop and we each think a third installment could potentially be awesome, if ever made. However, while it would be awesome to see this movie, there are also a lot of reasons as to why it would be a waste of time.
In this blog post, I will be listing the most notable pros and cons of a future Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3, should one ever be made. I'll alternate between cons and pros, starting with the cons.
1. Shouldn't Happen - The second movie sucked
While 2015's Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 may have had two or three awesome jokes, the movie was overall pretty bad and received all kinds of awful reviews from critics, scoring a nasty 5% Rotten Tomatoes. It was a major dip in quality from the first movie, and if the franchise keeps going down this dark and horrid path imagine how bad the third movie could be. A 2nd movie was unnecessary enough, let alone a third. Therefore, odds are the third movie will be just as bad as the second, if not worse.
2. Should Happen - The franchise could redeem itself
When Marvel Studios' Thor: the Dark World got mixed reviews and was hated by many, that didn't force them to stop making Thor movies all together. They took a complete different approach with 2017's Thor Ragnarok and redeemed the franchise and characters once and for all. This story shows you that when movies have disappointing sequels, the best way to pretend that sequel never happened is by topping it with an epic threequel, and I could see a similar thing playing out with a potential Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3.
If Happy Madison puts effort into this third one and really focuses on staying true to the first, beautiful, almost perfect Paul Blart: Mall Cop movie, a third movie could really be the proper closure we need and could really redeem itself from the horrendous second movie.
3. Shouldn't Happen - Too long since the last movie
The second Paul Blart: Mall Cop film came out around six years ago in the year 2015, which was six years after the predecessor in 2009. In that case, the ideal time to release the third movie would be our current year, 2021 and with no new plans for a Mall Cop 3 announced by the time a third movie would be made it wouldn't even be relevant anymore.
Since most interest in a third movie from critics and audiences faded long ago, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3 probably wouldn't have much hype and Happy Madison would have no logical reason to take their time making it.
4. Should Happen - The trilogy needs to be complete
All the best multi-part stories told through the medium of film come in threes, just take the original Star Wars trilogy and the Lord of the Rings movies as examples. Nobody likes saying the word "duology" so having a Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3 means we can refer to this franchise as the Mall Cop Trilogy and compare it to the likes of The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Kung Fu Panda Trilogy would be a dream come true for yours truly.
By the end of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Paul still has room to progress as a character, he still hasn't found the right girl yet and he's still a bit of an over-protective father so if he fulfills his character arc in a possible Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3 Paul's story can truly be compete and the Mall Cop films can truly be considered a finished work of cinematic art.
5. Shouldn't Happen - Happy Madison should just make other movies
Comedy movies don't need sequels, ones with consistent actors will have tropes and similarities that will basically qualify the movie as of the same family but not franchise, yet its better to put effort into an original idea then spending time on one you've already done. Take The Waterboy for example: the movie was awesome but like all true works of cinema it was better left open ended so instead of making a Waterboy 2 Happy Madison just made Hubie Halloween.
If a Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3 does happen and it sucks, it would be wasted effort that Happy Madison and Kevin James could've put towards making something new entirely that could've ended up being Kevin James' best movie. There's so many stories in the world of comedy movies waiting to be told other than Paul Blart: Mall Cop that would be wiser decisions to make instead of a third Mall Cop movie.
6. Should Happen - I'm taking the time write this blog post
If I just spent a few hours publicly arguing with myself about whether or not there should be a Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3, I'm gonna be pretty freaking disappointed if this movie never happens and this was all just a wasted effort! Really though, I would personally love a third Mall Cop movie and even if it sucks I'd still be happy to get a Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3 to complete the trilogy.
Would you personally like a Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3? If so, what would you want the plot to be? Let me know in the comments!! Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good rest of your day!!
Stay geeky,
-Jack Higgins