When did the first sequels arrive?

[JonathanLB]

What were some of the earliest sequels in movie history and when did the idea of creating sequels come about anyway? I can only think of sequels from the 70's on up, but surely there must have been plenty of them earlier. I guess probably sci-fi serial type of things, or Godzilla was started very early.

What else? I'm just wondering... Thought it would be an interesting thing to find out.

I'll be out of town until Thurs. night, though, so excuse me for not replying back until then.

[Force Master Hunter]

Maybe a Charlie Chapman movie? Surely sequels are as old as moives themselves.

[Jedieb]

From the Golden Age of Hollywood I can think of The Thin Man series of movies. Before that you have the Flash Gordon serials with Buster Crabb. In the 70's you've got Dirty Harry and Clint had the The Fistful of Dollars movies the previous decade. You could probably find sequels in just about any decade. It would be an interesting little project to come up with a decade by decade list.

[sirdizzy]

i do know the movie with the most sequels is James Bond there have been 19 movies so far with a 20th in planning

treks are up there (i think 9 right) police academy had 8

[CMJ]

They go back to at least the 30's. There were all the FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA,& KING KONG sequels and spin offs in that decade. Sequels have always been with us....:)

[Jedieb]

It's weird, but every few years I read some article about "Hollywood Shovels Out More Sequels." As if the writer has stumbled on to something new. In one form or another, Hollywood has always done sequels. John Wayne's characters may have had different names, but he wore the same damn pink shirt and tan vest in half his films! And how many times did Eastwood play the "unknown stranger"? What's kind of new is that some filmmakers have relied more on name recognition to sell their movies by slapping on numbers after their films instead of using different titles.

More Sequels
Pink Panther films
Father of the Bride films (Spencer Tracy did the originals)
James Coburn's Our Man Flint films

[DaBoSsNaStY]

and than there were the Fly sequels...:)

[Jedieb]

Super Fly the pimp or the other Fly? ;)

More 70's Sequels
Shaft (The orginal Bad Mutha had a few sequels)
The French Connection 2
Godfather 2

[JonathanLB]

Well, would you guys say there have been more sequels in the 90's and the first few years of the 00's than, say, the '50's or something?

I think it seems to me as though there are more sequels being made lately than ever before, but I could be wrong about that. It might just seem that way.

I know sequels have always been with us, for sure, it's just weird because I couldn't specifically name a lot of them from before thirty years ago or so.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I'd say there were more sequels in the 30's and 40's. First you have all the horror sequels. You had a dozen Dracula movies maybe more than a dozen Frankenstein Films and maybe a half dozen Werewolf sequels that doesn't count all the team ups they did, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, and my favorite of the bunch Abbot and Costello meet Frankestein. Speaking of Abbot and Costello their entire career in the 30's and 40's were basically sequels. They played similar characters running from monsters like Dracula, the mummy, etc. Some of the films were funny but they were still really sequels. I can't think of any others off hand. There might be some westerns back then that were done like Jedieb said. It would be interesting to look into it would make a good research paper.

[JonathanLB]

Yes, but if they don't officially count as sequels...

That's not really what I'm talking about. Anyhow, an interesting discussion, sequels.

[Jedieb]

I remember in the 80's it seemed to me as if there were more sequels than in previous years. Die Hard and Lethal Weapon come instantly to mind. These franchises went on well into the 90's. I think it's a trend that's a bit cyclical. Sequels are hot for a couple of years and then they cool off.

Modern sequels are a bit different than their predecessors in that you now have the big opening weekend that tops the predecessor, but weaker staying power and a slightly lower total gross. (This isn't always true, just common.) If I had to pick a starting point for the modern sequel I'd choose Jaws. Aside from Jaws 2, the sequels haven't been all that successful, but Jaws was the first summer blockbuster that brought in large amounts of kids and teens. And many of today's sequels seem to be targeting that audience. After Jaws came franchises like SW and Superman. Hell, even American Grafeitti had a sequel (a dismal non Lucas directed one).

But again, AG predates Jaws, so even before my modern sequel benchmark you can find ample evidence of sequels. They've always been with us, but I think today's sequel formula is a tad different from the previous models, but not much different. (Same actors, same characters, same shenanegans.) The main difference is in the sequel titles, the marketing, and the B.O. responses.

Still waiting for my B-Day thread response Jon. >(