Practice makes perfect, and sometimes the second (or third) installment of a movie franchise can be just as good — or better — than the original. Here are our favorite movie sequels that garnered critical acclaim, performed well at the box office, and measured up to their predecessors.
At this point, it’s a foregone conclusion that if a movie is well-received, it’s probably going to get a sequel. There’s no shortage of passionate arguments for and against the proliferation of sequels, and for good reason, given the long list of follow-up films that have fallen flat over the years. Every so often, though, we get a sequel that surprises and delights us by being just as good — or better — than the original.
There are more fantastic movie sequels than you might expect, spanning a wide range of genres. Here are our picks for some of the best movie sequels of the last few decades that did right by, and occasionally improved on, the movies they followed.
Francis Ford Coppola hit it out of the park with this iconic ‘70s film franchise about the fictional Corleone Mafia family in the ‘40s and ‘50s. The film stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino reprising their roles from the first film, with Robert DeNiro joining as a young version of Brando’s Vito Corleone. The original, released in 1972, is widely considered one of the greatest movies ever made. It was the second film, however, that truly redefined the mobster movie genre, showcasing Michael Corleone (Pacino) and his transformation from golden boy into ruthless mob boss. The film became the first sequel to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, and it’s still heavily referenced to this day.
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Amazon
“I’ll be back.” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s popular line from the first film in this franchise screamed for a sequel. Directed once again by James Cameron, the sequel was released in 1991, almost seven years after the original, but it was worth the long wait. Twists and turns in the story, which shifted to more action and less horror, combined with groundbreaking special effects and compelling characters to make this one memorable for all the right reasons. Pure and simple, this is one of the best sci-fi films of all time.
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Amazon
Another James Cameron classic, this 1986 film was released seven years after the original and had viewers gripping their seats with tension. As with Terminator, Cameron shifted from the core horror of Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece Alien to full-on action sequences in the follow-up chapter. Sigourney Weaver reprised her role as Ripley, who assists a group of heavily armed space marines who must take on multiple “xenomorph” aliens this time around. Film critic Roger Ebert said he left the theater with knots in his stomach from the movie’s “roller-coaster ride of violence.” The showdown at the end is one of the most iconic moments of the entire franchise — and sci-fi/horror films in general.
Watch it now on:
Amazon
The first film in the Toy Story franchise to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, Toy Story 3 made more than $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2010.
