I guess it's too late now since the animals are probably long dead by now but I was always disappointed as a kid that there was not a Homeward Bound III.
I saw Homeward Bound II in the theater when I was a kid and at the end Chance says "I never want to go through this again!" which I thought kind of hinted that there might be a sequel.
If they did make Homeward Bound III what could have been the plot of it?
I would have been all over a Homeward Bound III as a kid since I loved the first one so much (was never a huge fan of the sequel though). But I'm not sure where they could have gone with it. The first one did the wilderness, the second did the city - what would be left? Homeward Bound: Hawaiian Style? I think it would have started to tread into goofy territory if they felt the need to scrape a third film together.
But having said that, I would have liked to see a movie that was a more faithful adaptation of the original book and the first film from the 1960s. That one was set in Canada (and I'm a Canadian, so naturally I can appreciate that), and had a number of plot points which were entirely left out of the remake. However, this would probably have been considered too similar in theme to the first movie so if they did make a third one, they probably wouldn't have gone for it.
There's no question that I would jump on seeing a sequel for the off-chance that it could be good, because the two Homeward Bound films AND The Incredible Journey are firmly on my all-time-favorite-movies list. (And I own the original Incredible Journey book by Sheila Burnford; terrific novel.) However, I too am not sure where they would have gone with a third...the first two explored both main types of landscapes, and even though there's a fourth dog now (since the Seavers adopted Delilah), having basically the same group of animals manage to get lost AGAIN might strain credibility (or even incredibility, as it were), in spite of Chance's possible foreshadowing. Someone else thought Chance and Delilah should have puppies, but there could be ethical issues with the family allowing them to have a mixed-breed litter for no real reason instead of having at least one or two dogs altered. (And how would they cast the pups? Breed a real litter of Kuvasz/American Bulldog crosses? It would be quite hard to guess what such offspring would even turn out looking like.)
Anyway...yeah. If they got lost again, where would it be? A desert? An island? If they didn't get lost, they'd need another good plot idea. Remaking The Incredible Journey would be tough because to me, that film is perfect as it is...I think "remaking" it would be turned into another Homeward Bound, because what studio today could resist smart-alecky talking animals over a rich, resonant narration by someone with a voice on Rex Allen's level? I think they should re-release The Incredible Journey and other excellent Disney animal/classic movies in a nice Blu-ray set. Really, instead of just pushing the newer stuff all the time, they need to re-release and promote all the obscure movies ever made by Disney.
I think they should re-release The Incredible Journey and other excellent Disney animal/classic movies in a nice Blu-ray set.
I remember wondering when the second film was released if there were going to be any more. And in retrospect, I wonder whether they actually considered making a third film, given that the Disney company seems to have a liking for trilogies. But since the second film wasn't as critically or commercially successful as the first, they might not have been willing to take the gamble.
The question of whether this would have been a good idea is the key question, though. Like others say above, rehashing the same plot from the first two would likely not have gone well. And coming up with something different would have an extra challenging level, as any new elements would need to fit into an overall story, such as having puppies as aforesaid, or potential love interests for Sassy or Shadow (though Shadow's a bit over the hill for that, and the family would only want so many pets). Plus they still would need to come up with a story that could fit under the Homeward Bound title.
Maybe they could have had a story similar to the first two. Maybe Chance and Delilah's puppies get lost somehow. Maybe they fall into a truck and are taken away cross country and the animals have to find them before the family finds out.
shareHonestly if they ever do make a third it'll probably become like the airbud movies, and this movie is way too good to fall into something tragic like that
shareI agree with you on that and like I said it's really too late to make another one now but they should have made one after Homeward Bound II came out back in the 90s. I think it could have made an interesting film.
shareI'm in my 30's and very much enjoyed this movie, and to a much lesser extent the second one as a kid. The first film, to my pleasant surprise, still holds up. The second film is mediocre, but still watchable and at times even mildly enjoyable. I watched them both recently for the first time in years and as it happens, the thought of there being a third movie crossed my mind as well.
As others have said, it's way too late now to to do a third film but I'm thinking that maybe it could have been about them being marooned at sea?
Maybe a Homeward Bound Christmas?
None of the pets would need to be lost anywhere. I'm all for a storyline that just lets them enjoy their time with their humans throughout the entire movie. You can still have conflict the keeps the story interesting and engages the characters.
We would see what traditions the Seaver family has for Christmas, how the pets view everything that is going on, we would get to see Delilah after she settled into the Seaver family household, which human she bonded with (I like to think it was Laura), her deepened relationship with Chance, how she gets along with Sassy and Shadow, etc.