10 Great Movie Sequels You’ve Probably Never Seen
Some movies are meant to be told in chapters. The proliferation of Marvel films has led the film industry to operate like comic books. Viewers are given grand narratives that play out through trilogies, sagas, and even entire fictional shared universes.
However, sometimes, a self-contained film is given the chance to continue telling its story despite no indication that the story needed to continue. It’s easy to understand why these sequels get made. A successful film is going to have a built-in fanbase, allowing film studios to reach a wider audience. Filmgoers are willing to revisit characters they’ve already fallen in love with rather than take a chance on a new story they are unfamiliar with.
As a result, everything from The Tooth Fairy to Donnie Darko has been given a sequel. There’s a common adage that sequels are never as good as the original. This is often true, as many sequels exist simply to cash in on the previous film, rather than manifest because the filmmaker has another story to tell. The hallmarks of a bad sequel are often clear. Sometimes they can’t get the original director or actors back. Other times, they rehash the exact same story, leading to audience fatigue. Some directors even see their original work turned into a franchise zombie, a never-ending stream of sequels tangentially related to the original work being released year after year.
But sometimes, sequels turn out great. In even rarer occurrences, a sequel will come out that completely goes under everyone’s radar. These are sequels that are immediately dismissed because they are either don’t live up to the original or radically depart from the originals vision. These sequels may not completely recapture the magic of the original, but they are solid films in their own right and can regain a fanbase after the initial backlash dies down. These are the best sequels that no one talks about.
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