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 6 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 actually belonged to a girl named Rebecca Jane Sable (portayed 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 (portayed 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 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 (portayed 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 about the mysterious Polaroid. 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 was 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, slighty 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 being photobombed 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 photobombed, 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 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 actually a opera staged in the concert hall, which actually turns out to be an opera house.

When Reiana finds out about this, she darts on stage in an attempt to stop the opera, but hears the curtain call as it has already ended. When the characters of Plunderer 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 the opera house, however, she stops dead in her tracks, and tries to rail against the 12 for their offenses before they can do anything. When it