Forward Thinking: Boy, oh boy

We're going nuts for Boy. Coming up to its third week at the top of the local box office, it's a runaway hit that is going down in New Zealand film history.

Its success, though, brings with it some serious searching questions.

Like, should we be laughing at the story of a neglected kid when this society is rife with such neglected children? Answer: Yes, they won't mind, especially if you get the usher to take them some chips out in the cinema carpark.

Or how about its celebration of the pernicious influence of American pop culture in the form of the late Michael Jackson on our indigenous culture? Isn't the film, with its oh-so-clever Thriller meets Poi E finale, just eroding cultural values in the name of entertainment?

Answer: Yes. But don't blame the movie for that. Instead, blame it on the sunshine, the moonlight, the good times, and indeed the boogie.

We'll leave the questions about about What It All Means to the more serious-minded. Like the reader from down the line who wrote objecting to my calling Boy a comedy because "it is tragically real and a sad documentary on the life that still exists for many".

What needs to be addressed right here, right now - after all, those kid actors are growing fast and they'll be after a pay rise - is what are they going to do for the sequel?

Boy II and maybe even a III would seem surefire hits.

After all, even though What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (number five in our biggest domestic films of all time list) wasn't very good when compared to Once Were Warriors (number two), it still dragged us back in.

And those films actually were tragically real and sad documentaries on the life that still exists for many.

So if Boy is about a kid in the era of Thriller, surely director, writer, star and chief Crazy Horse Taika Waititi has a Bad or a Dangerous in him too.

And surely we'd go and see them, even if they weren't quite as choice as the first.

But there are safeguards to help make Boy's further adventures guaranteed successes. Simply model them on the greatest sequels of all time. Some early thoughts ...

The Godfather 2 model: One half of split story tells of the early days of Alamein, which expands on how the silly young chook became such an "egg" as an adult. The other has contemporary scenes of Boy as a young man inheriting the family business, his Crazy Horses gang becoming the third or fourth most organised crime mob on the East Coast. Though given what happened to poor Fredo Corleone, it may not turn out well for younger bro Rocky. But Smooth Criminal would be a great soundtrack moment.

The Empire Strikes Back model: Despite his orphan-like upbringing, Boy decides not to follow his estranged father to the dark side. He becomes the local cop. One day he confronts a burglar doing over the local pub who attempts to fight him with a live crayfish he has armed himself with, which grabs Boy's wrist, forcing him to drop his baton. "Not crayfish again," moans the young constable. The burglar removes his balaclava. It's Alamein: "Boy, I am your father."

The Shrek 2 Model: Simply add a talking cat with a Spanish accent. Everyone loves those ...

Of course, it could always be Girl. But gender changes or spin-offs mid-franchise never work out - see The Next Karate Kid or Catwoman. And you would also have to replace Michael Jackson with Madonna.

And no-one ever goes to see her in a movie, even if she isn't actually in it.