I have been watching movies my entire life and in that time I watched thousands of films. After watching so many movies you would think I would have seen quite a few sequels as well. Their just haven’t been that many sequels that I have seen that I like. Most people and film pundits think that sequels aren’t as not good as the originals. They are correct on that thought. That being said, here is a list of sequels that are coming out this year and my favorite sequels of all time. Yes their are a good 10 or 12 sequels I really love. This year their are thirty new sequels coming out here are some of the more notable one. 300:Rise of an Empire, Captain America:The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-man 2, X-Men: Days of the Future Past, Horrible Bosses 2, 22 Jump Street, Dumb and Dumber To. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Night at the Museum 3, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Hot Tub Time Machine Part 2 , The Hobbit: There and Back Again and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
12. The Harry Potter movies have made over a billion dollars. The reason is they were able to make seven more films after the first, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Of the seven others films Harry Potter and The Prisoners of Azkaban and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2 have got the most critical acclaim. I really like Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is my favorite. Their is no doubt though that these are some great sequels.
11. Another great movie franchise is the X-Men movie franchise. Of the X-Men movies X-Men First Class and X-Men 2 are my favorites. X-Men First Class was a great re envisioning of the X-Men franchise. Most critics and fans alike seem to enjoy X-Men 2 better. X-Men 2 is the only X-Men movie in the franchise featuring Night Crawler played by Alan Cumming.
10. Star Trek has been mostly based on the tv show starring the original stars of the 1960’s show. Of those 9 movies my favorite is Star Treck 6 Undiscovered Country. Most critics and fans though seem to love Star Treck 2 The Wrath of Khan. Now Star Treck has been rebooted and both movies from JJ Abrams have been great.
9. Spider-man has had four movies over the years. The franchise has been rebooted a couple years ago with The Amazing Spider-man. My favorite of the Spider-man movies is Spider-man 2 in the Sam Raimi Trilogy starring Toby Maguire as Spider-man/ Peter Parker.
8. James Cameron has made two great sequels over the years. The first is Aliens the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien. Probably the scariest movie I have ever seen. Sigourney Weaver reprise her classic role of Ellen Ripley.
7. The other movie sequel James Cameron made was Terminator 2:Judgment Day. Arnold Schwarzenegger has played the butt kicking robot from the future around four times. This is the best of all the movies in my opinion though. Critics and fans alike agree.
6. Christopher Reeve has played Superman four time but, Superman 2 is the best of those films. The Richard Donner cut was a very good directors cut which made Superman 2 even better.
5. Matt Damon has been in quite a few movies in his career but, I think most people think of him as Jason Bourne. The Bourne franchise has been one of the better one of the years but , The Bourne Supremacy is one of the better sequels I’ve seen over the years. Paul Greengrass directed the first and second in the franchise. He didn’t direct The Bourne Ultimatum but it didn’t lack in the quality.
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is the most celebrated movie franchise. The Two Towers wasn’t as good as Fellowship of the Ring. The Return of the King was much better then the first two movies in the trilogy. The Academy Awards the film won proved how great that movie was. Peter Jackson’s trilogy was so good the New Line and Warner Brothers allowed him to Direct the next trilogy. The Hobbit Trilogy has used some new technology’s and that allowed Peter some new freedom in the special effects department.
3.The Dark Knight Trilogy is great. Batman Begins is the first in the rebooted batman franchise but, the second film in the trilogy is definitely is the best. The Dark Knight is such a good movie. Heath Ledger won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as the Joker for his portrayal as the main villain in the film.
2. The Star Wars movies are considered some of the best ever made. A lot of people love the original Star Wars. My favorite of the original trilogy is The Empire Strikes Back. This movie has so much tension between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. The romance between Han and Leia has also blossom’d in the second film as well. There is a lot of intrigue with Lando and Boba Fett as well. Empire is the first time we see Yodo and Frank Oz does a great job as the voice of him. There were a lot of different locations which in Empire it made for a better film in my opinion.
1. The Godfather is considered by most as the greatest movie of all time. That being said, I think that The Godfather part 2 is just as good if not better. With great performances by Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. I just love this movie and its in my top five movies of all time. Frances Ford Coppala has crafted two masterpieces with these two films. I just like part 2 a little bit better.
Every year their are plenty of sequels coming out. Most aren’t gonna be any good but, a few slip through the cracks and get good production value and acting as well as a great story. Some honorable mentions are The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Thor 2, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and Patriot Games. Next year is gonna be a great year for sequels. The third Star Wars trilogy begins, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Fantastic Four, the last part of The Hobbit trilogy comes out as well as the final installment of The Hunger Games trilogy Mockingjay Part 2. One thing is for sure though if movies make a lot of money they will def make sequels.
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 