The Ring follow-up Rings has been pushed back into 2016

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Earlier this year, a film entitled RINGS went into production with director F. Javier Gutierrez at the helm. A sequel to 2002's THE RING that is set, appropriately, 13 years after the events of that film, RINGS was scheduled to be released next month, on November 13th. If you've noticed the distinct lack of marketing for it, this should come as no surprise – home studio Paramount has pushed the release of RINGS back to an unspecified date in 2016.

Very little is known about how RINGS, which was written by Akiva Goldsman, David Loucka, and Jacob Aaron Estes, handles the return to the world of cursed video tapes, but we do know that the film stars Matilda Lutz as a character named Julia; Alex Roe as her boyfriend Holt, who becomes distant from her after watching the tape; Johnny Galecki as Gabriel, a handsome, pleasure-seeking professor; and Aimee Teegarden.

Confession: I have never seen any of the prequels or sequels in the RING/RINGU franchise. I've seen the original 1988 Japanese film RINGU, its 1999 Korean remake THE RING VIRUS, and the 2002 American remake THE RING, but I never ventured any further, purposely avoiding the details of any other entries. I was satisfied with that original story as it was, complete and self-contained, and didn't want to give the other installments any chance to sully it. Those first films told me all I needed to know and I didn't want to know any more. 

Am I missing anything by skipping the further adventures of Sadako/Samara? Seeing that Arrow gave THE RING TWO a 2/10 review, I'm thinking I might have made the right choice.