Sequels
Solution
We are presented with a list of descriptions, each with an associated number and year. Each of them describes a movie, with some extra element added or changed. As clued by the flavortext (Die Hard II is also known as Die Harder), this element refers to the movie's title with an "er" sound added to the end:
| Description | Original Movie | Sequel Title | Index | Extract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An aspiring actress develops a spacecraft to touch down on the moon, with the help of her romantic interest, a jazz pianist. | LA LA LAND | LA LA LANDER | 8 | D |
| Faced with crippling financial hardship and rising interest rates, an English sales clerk and his slacker best friend have a pint at the Winchester and wait for it all to blow over. | SHAUN OF THE DEAD | SHAUN OF THE DEBTOR | 4 | U |
| Professional grifters Henry and Johnny set a complex plot in motion to steal a large supply of bees from the mob. | THE STING | THE STINGER | 9 | E |
| Tiana is a waitress from New Orleans who is cursed to play a Konami arcade game. | THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG | THE PRINCESS AND THE FROGGER | 4 | P |
| In this Pixar film, a jazz pianist has an out-of-body experience, during which he learns about the benefits of harnessing the sun's rays as a renewable energy source. | SOUL | SOLAR | 5 | R |
| In the midst of World War II, a cryptanalyst uses his Nintendo Switch to crack the German cipher. | THE IMITATION GAME | THE IMITATION GAMER | 11 | O |
| A private eye and his enforcer-for-hire partner take a trip to Yellowstone to investigate the disappearance of Amelia Kuttner near Old Faithful, uncovering a murder conspiracy along the way. | THE NICE GUYS | THE NICE GEYSER | 6 | C |
| A deadly assassin comes out of retirement to take vengeance on the Russian gangsters who destroyed his favorite woven basket. | JOHN WICK | JOHN WICKER | 9 | E |
| A group of five high school students forge an unlikely friendship while attending an early-morning rave. | THE BREAKFAST CLUB | THE BREAKFAST CLUBBER | 11 | S |
| When science goes too far and dinosaurs wreak havoc on an amusement center, only Spider-Man can save the day. | JURASSIC PARK | JURASSIC PARKER | 5 | S |
Using the number in brackets to index into the sequel title gives us our first answer, DUE PROCESS.
To find the second answer, consider the difference between the year given and the original movie's release date (clued by "only took 'em two years" in the flavortext):
| Movie | Release Year | Given Year | Diff | Extract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA LA LAND | 2016 | 2021 | 5 | E |
| SHAUN OF THE DEAD | 2004 | 2028 | 24 | X |
| THE STING | 1973 | 1978 | 5 | E |
| THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG | 2009 | 2012 | 3 | C |
| SOUL | 2020 | 2041 | 21 | U |
| THE IMITATION GAME | 2014 | 2034 | 20 | T |
| THE NICE GUYS | 2016 | 2025 | 9 | I |
| JOHN WICK | 2014 | 2036 | 22 | V |
| THE BREAKFAST CLUB | 1985 | 1990 | 5 | E |
| JURASSIC PARK | 1993 | 2012 | 19 | S |
Translating these differences to letters with A1Z26 gives us our second answer, EXECUTIVES.