Polaroid: Two Steps Ahead

Polaroid: Two Steps Ahead is a 2020 American  film directed by  in honor of the 83rd anniversary of. The film is set 6 months after the events of the 2019 film , and stars Reiana Smiley, as a 15-year-old shutterbug who uses her Polaroid OneStep+ camera to uncover the dark secrets of a vintage  found in a river.

announced the film in 2016, with Stewart set to direct and writing the script. began in March 2018, lasting through August 2019, one month before the release of the film's prequel. The film was originally set to be released in October 2019, only to be delayed nearly 7 months later. By December 2019, had struck a deal with  to co-produce the film.

Polaroid: Two Steps Ahead was theatrically released in the United States on April 14, 2020, by in  and  3D. It was a commercial success unlike its prequel, grossing over $396 million worldwide against a budget of $178 million. The film received generally positive reviews during its release, with critics praising its mostly light humor, visual effects, story, and performances.

Plot
15-year-old photographer Reiana is walking through the forest during a hiking trip when she finds an old Polaroid camera that was thrown into a river by a high-schooler named Bird Fitcher (portrayed by in the first film). The Polaroid, that belonged to a girl named Rebecca Jane Sable (portrayed by Emily Power in the first film), the late daughter of Roland Joseph Sable (portrayed by Rhys Bevan John in the first film) and Lena Sable (portrayed by in the first film), was found in a garage sale by Bird's co-worker Tyler Drew (portrayed by  in the first film). When Reiana picks up the Polaroid and inspects it, she realizes that it still functions properly. When the flash goes off on her, she looks around the area she's in. To her relief, however, there doesn't seem to be any sign of a creepy figure behind her. She thinks that Bird doesn't use the Polaroid anymore, and puts it back in the river, hoping it will be sold one day.

When she returns from her hike and tells her friends about the Polaroid, she immediately learns that it holds bizarre secrets and several people had suffered a tragic death when their pictures were taken by it. So, using her Polaroid OneStep+ camera (which many believe she got from her local Target store), she seeks to uncover those secrets so that those who get their picture taken will be safe from death.

Reiana is mournful about the death of Sarah Dawson (portrayed by in the first film), which she goes to investigate. When she examines Sarah's corpse, she realizes that the Polaroid camera was discovered when Sarah was going through a box of her late mother's stuff. This prompts the latter to call Bird to discuss the mysterious Polaroid camera. Bird tells her about the shadow that killed her friends and the camera's dark secrets (which Reiana says she is trying to uncover, since she's shocked to find out that Bird wasn't able to do it).

At home, Reiana informs her two best friends Mimi (voiced by Cheryl Miller) and Nyami (voiced by Hilda Cooper) about what Bird said about the strange Polaroid camera, then leads them to the dark room of Bird's school, where the entity disintegrated after Bird burned a picture of herself. Reiana then summarizes what happened in the first film, and tells them about the secrets she's trying to uncover. Nyami, slightly shocked about the previous incident, warns herself not to pick up the mysterious camera, while Mimi uses her Fujifilm instax mini 11 to take a picture of the Polaroid OneStep+ camera Reiana has.

The next day, Reiana is attempting to take a group picture of 5 teenagers standing in front of a fountain, only for them to end up being photo-bombed by the 3 female characters of Rikekoi (Ayane Himuro, Kotonoha Kanade, and Ena Ibarada) who are in the corruption zone, much to her dismay. She drives the 3 corrupted girls away, and retries the group picture twice, and both times the teenagers get photo-bombed, which frustrates Reiana even more. This continues for a while until she finally gives up when the 3 girls of Rikekoi tell the male characters (Shinya Yukimura and Kousuke Inukai) about what she's doing, provoking the 2 guys to chase her down the city.

As a result of the incident, Reiana decides to just continue her quest on trying to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Polaroid camera but spots a concert hall next to her. After taking a quick picture, she goes in and meets the 3 primary main characters of Hamatora (Nice (voiced by Tyler Garrett), Murasaki (voiced by Calvin Matthews), and Hajime (voiced by Natalie Crawford)), who are backstage. She tells them she heard that they are preparing for their concert (or "gig", as she calls it), and is given a backstage pass by the administrator in turn when she asks them about it. She thanks the administrator, tells the three to have fun doing their gig, and then walks out of the hall while holding her pass.

The three seem puzzled at first by her arrival, but then they burst out laughing about her calling their concert a "gig", and go to walk on stage, only to find out that that they've been replaced by the characters of Plunderer, who are also in the corruption zone (just like the characters of Rikekoi), even though the former three are already prepared for the "gig".

The three struggle to find themselves a spot in the auditorium, until they discover that it turns out to be a theatre, and end up being led to a theatre box instead, with Mimi and Nyami behind them. When they get to the box, they discover Licht Bach and Hina performing "Teco io sto" (lit. I am with you), the love duet for the second act of Verdi's 1859 opera,. Soon, the group realizes that the concert that the 3 primary main characters of Hamatora were about to partake in was a opera staged in the concert hallcthat tually turns out to be built in an opera house.

When Reiana finds out about this, she darts on stage in an attempt to thwart the opera, but hears the curtain call as it has already ended. When Plunderer's characters spot her onstage, however, she blames them for spoiling the "gig" the 3 primary main characters of Hamatora were about to participate in, but when they deny the claims and tell her that she can't order them around, she says in a piercing tone, "Fine then. Do whatever you want, but don't go around driving me up the wall or anything."

As soon as the characters of Rikekoi come along the moment she walks out of the opera house, however, she stops dead in her tracks, and tries to rail against the 11 corrupted anime characters for their offenses before they can do anything. When it backfires the moment they deny the accusations, she walks out of the opera house in anger, muttering about how ruthless corrupted anime characters are.

Back at her house, Reiana tells her friends about the weird camera and that she's trying to uncover the secrets tied to it. Later, when they go outside, Reiana attempts to burn the photo-bombs, but Mimi's arm spontaneously catches on fire just as the flames reach her. Nyami manages to extinguish the fire, but the photo-bombs don't restore themselves even after Mimi goes to the hospital to undergo surgery for her arm; Nyami stays with the 3 primary main characters of Hamatora while Reiana goes to learn more about the mysterious Polaroid camera.

Reiana does some research and discovers that "weird smudge-like figures show up in photos when the flash goes off on those who get their picture taken". She also realizes that Sarah was the first person in the first film to die when she was killed offscreen by an entity before her corpse tumbled to the floor. Shocked to learn about this, Reiana then rushes to inform Nyami, who calms her down a bit and tells her that those were the two reasons why the Polaroid camera was so bizarre. Reiana attempts to call Bird and tell her about what she found out, but instead receives a voicemail from her, which said "Sorry, I won't be calling you at the moment. Call me back soon." Frustrated, she tries sending her a text message, and to her surprise, Bird sends a reply which reads "Is that why that camera was so mysterious?"

Reiana, puzzled after reading Bird's reply, goes to her house (with Nyami following her) and asks her, "Why would you want to know that?", to which Bird answers in a soft voice, "You've learned that when you researched.", stunning the young photographer, who then calls Bird's acquaintance, Zoe Riley (portrayed by Isabela Moner), to let her know about Bird's response to her question. Afterwards, Reiana and Nyami walk back home, wondering how their friend had already known about Reiana's research.

The next day, Reiana walks to the opera house on a rainy morning, and notices the corrupted members of Burning Rescue (Galo Thymos, Aina Ardebit, Remi Puguna, Varys Truss, Lucia Fex, and Ignis Ex) from the movie, who have already been jabbed with the pre-treating serum by Nyami. Vinny, Lucia's pet mouse, is unaware of the things the Reiana is doing when he is corrupted. Luckily for the young photographer, the Burning Rescue members suppress their anger towards her, and just decide to let her spray them with the Voice Antidote X3 Power in order to be cured. Just after Rikekoi's and Plunderer's female characters notice this and catch her, however, she tries to rail against them before they can fick on her. The displeased corrupted female anime characters peach on her anyway, which sends her into a cold sweat. Another chase follows, right before she confronts the eleven corrupted anime characters during a musical and blames them for what they've done earlier; the characters of Rikekoi for "finding out that she was trying to take a photo of a group of teenagers when they were literally photobombing them", and the characters of Plunderer for "ruining the "gig" that the 3 primary main characters of Hamatora were about to throw themselves into". But just after they nullify the allegations twice, telling her that "she can't just go around blaming them for what they were doing because they have the right to do so", she furiously lashes out at them and replies, "If you haven't entered the corruption zone, I wouldn't have befriended you in the first place."

Reiana manages to survive a prolonged battle (despite being badly injured), and asks them what they even know about her photography hobby. When Shinya and Licht, Rikekoi's and Plunderer's lead male characters, demand that she give them her Polaroid OneStep+ camera, she attempts to snap all eleven of the corrupted anime characters as a legalized death threat. Before she can do it, however, one of the teenagers, Alina Howell (portrayed by Lucy Hale), grabs her by the arm and takes her to the group's hangout while it's still raining outside.

In the hangout, Alina tells the young photographer that it's extraordinary for a death threat to be valid, while Luna Harper (portrayed by Sky Lindsey) carefully treats the wounds all over her body using her first aid kit. Reiana tells the group that she's trying to uncover the secrets of the outlandish Polaroid camera, but tears up while informing them about her experience with the eleven corrupted anime characters. Alina consoles the young photographer, whispering "It's gonna be fine. Don't let a single setback get in your way."

Reiana perks up after hearing what Alina told her, and shows the group her Polaroid OneStep+. Neal Alexander (portrayed by ), the group's only male, asks her where she got her camera, to which she replies that she bought it directly from the official Polaroid store. Nina Osborne (portrayed by Sabrina Carpenter), a singer and songwriter, compliments the young photographer's camera, and receives a laudative thanks in response.