Books
What is the true meaning of biblical discipline?
How does the Bible teach parents to discipline their children?
In Misunderstood, author Gabriel A. Fielding explores the 7 biblical passages often misquoted by Christian parents as a means to abuse their children in the name of godly discipline.
Fielding notes that it isn't the "rod" that beats the child that promotes a healthy parent-child relationship, but the example of Christ's love, compassion, and understanding that nurtures a strong relationship between parents and their children.
Writings
3 Story Ideas for Major Movie Franchises
Depending on how good a movie turns out, it may get a sequel. Every sequel must have a good story to tell. If a sequel tells a good story, there might be a trilogy and a tv show based on that franchise. There might even be spin-offs. Such has been the case with movies for some time. The following 3 franchises could benefit from developing further sequels in the future for ardent fans everywhere:
Madagascar 4
The Madagascar franchise has been around since 2005. So far, we have 3 movies, 1 spin-off movie, 3 tv shows, and 5 specials. A Madagascar 4 movie was confirmed sometime in 2010, just 2 years before Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted came out. Madagascar 4 was supposed to come out sometime in 2018, but because of DreamWorks’ structure on releasing only 2 or 3 films a year, and working on franchises such as Trolls, and the Boss Baby, Madagascar 4 was removed from its release year.
Some fans believe Madagascar 4 was cancelled because people have lost interest in the franchise. But in 2017, Tom Mcgrath, the co-director of Madagascar 4, and the voice of Skipper the penguin said, “Nothing is confirmed yet, but the characters might show their faces once more.’’ And recently in January 2026, Tom said DreamWorks still wants to make Madagascar 4 if there is a good story to tell. This means Madagascar 4 is not cancelled, but just on hold for now. If they want a good story for Madagascar 4, there are a few ways the writers could approach the project.
In the first Madagascar, after getting trapped on the island of Madagascar, the main characters, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman explored the island and saved the lemurs from their arch enemy, Fossa. At the same time, the chimps remained on the boat and the penguins (Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private) went to explore Antarctica.
In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman as well as the penguins and the chimps try to return to New York City. But after attempting to use King Julian’s plane, they crash in Africa. Alex reunites with his parents, Melman becomes a doctor, Marty learns more about how unique and special he is, and Gloria and Melman fall in love. Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman stay in Africa and the penguins and chimps leave for other adventures.
In Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman again decide to return to New York. After finding the chimps and penguins, they meet and befriend circus animals: Vitaly, Gia, Stephano, and Sonya. Because of their new friends, Alex and the others find themselves living their lives like never before. They are hunted down by Captain Chantel Dubios, and a whole series of madness follows before they finally end up back home in New York. But everything had changed in their Central Park Zoo home. So, they return to the circus and their new friends.
The spin-off to the Madagascar movies, The Penguins of Madagascar, showed Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private celebrating Private’s birthday until they got captured by Dave the Octopus and then rescued by the North Wind (Classified, Eva, Corporal, and Short Fuse). After Dave is defeated, the penguins venture forward to new lands.
For Madagascar 4, the writers could have Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman join the North Wind and the penguins on a new adventure. At the end of Madagascar 3, Captain Chantel DuBois, the villain, was transported to Madagascar after Alex and his friends defeated her. She could escape her prison and find a way to capture Alex’s circus animal friends and set a trap for him. The penguins could then show up with the North Wind, and the group could team up to save the lives of their captured friends. Depending on how many animals DuBois captures, this could be an opportunity for King Julian, Maurice, and Mort to reunite with Clover from the prequel show, All Hail King Julian.
Cars 4
As with the Madagascar franchise, the Cars franchise had also contemplated another sequel after the release of Cars 3 in 2017. Fans believed Lightning McQueen retired from racing after the events of Cars 3. However, before letting Cruz Ramirez take over in the race in Florida, Lightning had started the race. So, when Cruz won, Lightning was also the winner. Then, in Cars on the Road, the TV show, Lightning and Mater met with Cruz. Before going home, Lightning said to Cruz, “See you on the track.” This could mean Lightning might race again.
The writers could create a storyline from this point and bring Lightning along with Cruz to compete in a cross-country race. If it is a point-to-point race across America, a race from Radiator Springs to New York City would be perfect, and seeing Lightning and Cruz compete against their rivals (Chick Hicks, Francesco Bernoullie, Miss Fritter, and Jackson Storm) would make a great story.
If Pixar wants to do a 5th movie, it would be wonderful to see Lightning and Cruz compete together in a race across the world. They could bring back Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell, and other characters such as Dusty Crop-Hopper, Skipper, Dotty, and Chug from the Planes movies all joining in for a new racing adventure with many mishaps and bonding moments.
Future Sonic Movies
So far, there are 3 movies, 3 short films, and 1 spin-off tv show based on the iconic video game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog. In 2027, a 4th Sonic movie will be released, and there is also an untitled spin-off movie in development. Paramount and Sega based the plots of all the movies to reflect the games’ plots. They featured not only Sonic and Eggman, but also Sonic’s friend Tails, and rivals, Knuckles and Shadow. They also featured the G.U.N soldiers, Gerald Robotnik, and Maria Robotnik.
In the first movie, Eggman tried to capture Sonic to use his powers to start up his machines, just like he did in the first game by capturing random animals, to use them to power up his robots.
In the second movie, just like in the third game, Sonic and Tails try to go after the master emerald before Knuckles and Eggman can find it. Knuckles learns that he was tricked by Eggman who only wanted to use the master emerald to rule the world. So, Knuckles joins Sonic and Tails to stop Eggman.
The third movie introduced Shadow, Maria, and Gerald Robotnik. As with the Sega Dreamcast game, Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow awakes in a capsule after being hidden for 50 years and seeks revenge after losing Maria to G.U.N. However, Shadow eventually realizes his promise to Maria about keeping the world safe and joins forces with Sonic.
There are some differences in the Sonic movies compared to the Sonic games. For example, unlike Sonic Adventure 2, Gerald in Sonic Movie 3 was a villain which he was not in SA2, and unlike SA2, Shadow in Sonic Movie 3 was not an experiment.
Sonic Movie 4 will be introducing Amy Rose and Metal Sonic. Because of this, Sonic Movie 4 may be based on the Sega CD game Sonic CD, which debuted Amy and Metal Sonic. There have been talks about Paramount introducing other characters such as Silver the Hedgehog since Sonic Movie 4 is introducing the time travel element featured in Sonic CD. He may show up in a post-credit scene. Blaze the Cat and Marine the Raccoon, who are from an alternate universe known as Sol Dimension, could appear along with Silver in a post-credit scene in Sonic Movie 4.
But if Paramount wants to introduce these characters separately, Silver could be introduced in Sonic Movie 5 which may be based on the game Sonic 2006 or based on the Sonic Rivals series. Blaze and Marine could be featured in a 6th film based on the Sonic Rush series.
Another great idea for these future movies would be to further explore backstories of these characters, especially the losses of their parents, to show how they became the heroes we know. For example, after seeing Sonic’s adoptive mother, Longclaw, Knuckles’ father, and Maria Robotnik die, we still don’t know what happened to Sonic’s biological parents, Tails’ parents, or even Knuckles’ mother. Depending on how the time travel element in Sonic Movie 4 gets played out, hopefully we could get to see what happened to them.
As for the untitled spin-off film, it could focus on Shadow. Since Shadow is not really an experiment in the sonic movies, the writers could show what happened to his parents before he came to earth. The spin-off could also introduce Rouge the Bat, who also debuted in Sonic Adventure 2, and introduce Black Doom, and the black arms from the spin-off game, Shadow the Hedgehog.
These story ideas would be perfect to either conclude or expand on these 3 well-known franchises. Although producers are still searching for a perfect story idea to make the next great film in these franchises, they should pay attention to the fans. Who knows? Maybe their next great story idea is already in the making!
Art & Ilustration
About
Gabriel A. Fielding
Gabriel A. Fielding is an American author, artist, writer, gamer, and martial artist. He is a supporter of achieving good mental health balance for young adults.
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