The Best Movie Sequels of All Time (2024)

At this point, everyone knows Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father, but in 1980 that moment was one of the most jaw-dropping plot twists ever. “Empire Strikes Back” gets way darker than the mostly lighthearted “A New Hope,” not to mention the fact that our beloved heroes lose at the end. Iconic moments like Luke escaping the wampa, his Jedi training with Yoda and Han Solo getting frozen in carbonite will live on in the “Star Wars” mythos forever. This middle chapter of the original “Star Wars” trilogy built tension leading up to the finale and proved at the time that it’s possible to go bigger and better in a sequel.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Witness me! The rip-roaring “Fury Road” puts the “car” in “carnage” and is widely considered one of the best action movies of all time. Director George Miller’s fourth entry in the “Mad Max” world raced into theaters three decades after “Beyond Thunderdome,” with a captivating new cast led by Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. Much of the vehicular mayhem, death-defying stunts and fire-spewing guitars were created practically, which helped “Fury Road” nab six Academy Awards in 2016, the most of any film that year.

Read Variety’s original review here.

Taking the dystopian vision of Ridley Scott’s 1980 film to an even darker and more expansive level nearly 40 years after the groundbreaking original, Denis Villeneuve finds even more to explore about the relationship between humans and androids. With bleakly beautiful scenes shot by Roger Deakins, the sequel may be long but offers plenty of food for thought in the story of Officer K, played by Ryan Gosling, a new LAPD blade runner who goes on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a blade runner who went missing decades ago.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Francis Ford Coppola outdoes his original gangster epic, dramatically expanding its scope into a more shadowed, complex economy of tycoons. The structural gambit of dual timelines, cutting between Michael’s (Al Pacino) efforts to reconfigure his criminal empire to more legitimate business investments and his father’s (Robert De Niro) immigration to America and ties to his community, deepens the sense of tragedy. As one man works to protect his family, his son obliterates his own.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The highwater mark of superhero films. Everything about this sequel was done with utmost attention to detail. Take the intro: instead of fixating on yet another origin story from the caped crusader, director Tim Burton turns his lens onto the film’s villain. The camera sweeps across the elaborate Cobblepot Mansion (created with painstaking detail as a miniature set); screams are heard as a baby is born: enter the Penguin. The Gotham that Burton created allowed for the introduction of the wackiest of comic book characters but with the weight of real consequences and horror. We’d seen colorful renderings of our favorite heroes and villains before in the Adam West-verse, but Michael Keaton’s Batman paired with Burton’s world building legitimized the whole operation. The cushion provided in the previous 1989 “Batman” filmed allowed audiences to really bask in the insanity of this production. In the “Batman Returns” Gotham, a bomb could be a red and white twirling toy, but also actually almost kill the Batman. A woman with cat ears in a perfectly stitched pleather suit can lick our heroes’ face and make it both weird and wildly sexy at the same time. This sequel houses career-making performances from Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken and (without a shred of a doubt) Michelle Pfeiffer. She put a BIRD IN HER MOUTH and pretended to eat it LIKE A CAT, Anne Hathaway could never. Not only is this a great sequel, one might even say it’s the greatest Batman movie ever made.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

A great sequel is only as good as its villain. So how do you top a indestructible killing machine built like Arnold Schwarzenegger? Give it an upgrade! Robert Patrick took playing a soulless silver goo monster to new heights as James Cameron’s big bad in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.”Patrick’s dead-faced performance (“Have you seen this boy”), coupled with Cameron’s drive to push FX technology way beyond the scope of what our tiny 1991 brains thought was possible gave audiences cinematic moments that have been parodied, copied but (to this day) never topped. Only a film this perfectcould make a charactermade entirely out of the laughably named “mimetic polyalloy” substance as frightening as the “Jaws” shark.

This movie also started the rise of the Linda Hamilton hive. John Connor might be the legacy the Terminator franchise must protect at all costs, but without Sarah Connor there is no John. Re-introduced doing pull-ups in an insane asylum, this was the character pivot audiences were craving. Hamilton’s portrayal of the no-nonsense prepper is perfection. Many after her would try to recreate this genius glare; all would fail.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The short-lived “Jump Street” movies are some of the most quotable and memeable comedies in recent history, with the sequel graduating to the big leagues and sending Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum’s undercover cops to college. Some of the hilarious highlights include some awkward slam poetry, a drug trip gone wrong and a meltdown from Ice Cube’s police captain when he realizes his daughter is sleeping with Hill’s character Schmidt. Sadly, more planned sequels and spinoffs didn’t come to fruition, but “22 Jump Street” helped directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller become sure-fire hitmakers.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Mike (Channing Tatum) and his buddies hit the road for a final performance at a stripping convention, an easygoing joyride that reaffirms their drive for artistic fulfillment. The follow-up to Steven Soderbergh’s drama still resides in the wayside of American capitalism’s rubble, but it trades the moralizing despair for an egalitarian spirit and emerges as a far more progressive film. The final 15 minutes – a series of dance sequences in which Mike and the boys manifest their creative fantasies while making a crowd of women scream their heads off – are an unimpeachable triumph. It’s hard for a movie to earn going out on “All I Do Is Win” — this one does.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Is the coolest heist crew ever assembled still the coolest heist crew ever assembled after they are pushed around by a petty mobster, arrested by Italian police and embarrassed by the French? Well, yes. Steven Soderbergh’s follow-up was derided upon release for losing the clockwork precision of its predecessor, but the more lackadaisical hangout vibe offers its own bounty of pleasures, including an unpredictable sense of humor and swoony formal flourishes to match the backdrop of Euro luxury. The film imagines a world solely occupied by hyper skilled aristocrats and their wounded egos, and it knows just how funny that world is.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The feature-length prologue to Mark Frost and David Lynch’s cult series “Twin Peaks,” “Fire Walk With Me” was hounded by a difficult production, disagreements between Lynch and Frost, an icy critical reception and bombing at the box office. Yet time has been kind to this 1992 feature, a dark and emotional spin on the series which fits in with Lynch’s bizarre and emotional worldview. Sheryl Lee is a revelation as Laura Palmer, playing her last days as a fleshed-out character, instead of a memory that floats over the series after her death. “Fire Walk With Me” also grows in impact when paired with “Twin Peaks: The Return,” which makes this chapter all the richer.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The Russo Brothers-directed follow up to 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger” sees Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers go head-to-head against his former best friend, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), whom he previously thought was dead. The film finds its heart in Captain America’s internal conflict over fighting Bucky who, in a brainwashed state of ferocity, is now a tool controlled by terrorist organization Hydra. Factor in the scene in which Rogers singlehandedly disarms an elevator full of muscled Hydra agents, then add the moments in which his cryogenically frozen friendship with Barnes begins to thaw, and “Captain America: Winter Soldier” is a Marvel sequel tailor-made for audience members whose taste for action and adventure need always be tempered by the reminder that genuine relational bonds triumph over all adversity.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

After more than 15 years, Hugh Jackman hung up the adamantium claws in this R-rated Wolverine movie (at least, until he revealed he’ll return in “Deadpool 3” in 2024). In a dystopian future, Jackman and Patrick Stewart star as Wolverine and Professor X as we’ve never seen them before – wrinkled, world-weary and withering near the end of their X-lives. For critics and comic-book fans alike, “Logan” marked the high point of the up-and-down “X-Men” franchise and its spinoffs, and it became the first superhero movie to be Oscar-nominated for adapted screenplay.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Who knew that one snap could change everything? Josh Brolin’s purple supervillain Thanos wasn’t messing around in “Infinity War,” wiping out half of all life in the universe with just one snap of his fingers. With an A-list cast list longer than an encyclopedia, “Infinity War” went bigger than the two previous “Avengers” movies and created an unbearable wait for the follow-up, “Avengers: Endgame.” Like “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Infinity War” finished on the downer-of-all-downer endings, with half of the World’s Mightiest Heroes turning to dust – a moment that will live in the memory of all MCU fans.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Though it took 14 years for the sequel to come to fruition, “Incredibles 2” was worth the wait. Picking up right after the Parr family defeated Syndrome, the Brad Bird-directed film follows the gifted clan as they embark on a new mission to restore the public’s trust in superheroes. Grossing $1 billion worldwide, the film was a hit at the box office and with critics alike. Though Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote in his review that it didn’t quite live up to the first installment, it’s still “perfectly snappy and chucklesome and heartfelt entertainment.”

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Potentially the best sequel to ever sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick” took the world by storm when it was released in April 2022. Nearly 40 years after the original film, “Maverick” saw the return of Tom Cruise as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who is now a test pilot instructing a group of Top Gun graduates for a risky mission. Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis and more joined the cast as the young trainees, and Val Kilmer even reprised his role as Iceman via voice synthesis technology. “Maverick” grossed nearly $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, making the film the highest-grossing of Cruise’s career and of the entire year in North America. Now, “Top Gun: Maverick” is nominated for best picture at the 2023 Oscars, in addition to adapted screenplay, film editing, original song, visual effects and sound.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

George Miller’s 1998 follow-up to animated classic “Babe” asks the important question: What if we took a pig and put it in a city? No but really, Babe’s adventures with three chimpanzees and an orangutan who all find themselves lost in a hotel is a hoot and a half. Though many critics at the time of “Pig in the City’s” release dismissed it as losing the innocence of the original, the film now has a cult following for its darker tone depicting a dog-eat-dog (more like pig-eat-pig) world.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back to solve another whodunit in “Glass Onion,” the follow-up to 2019’s Netflix hit “Knives Out.” With an all-star cast including Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista and more, “Glass Onion” follows the mystery that arises when tech billionaire Miles Bron (Norton) invites a select group of his friends to vacation on his private island. In fact, Variety’s Owen Gleiberman liked it even more than the first film, praising “Glass Onion” as “a bigger, showier, even more elaborately multi-faceted shell-game mystery.”

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Back when Marvel movies weren’t completely chaste and bloodless, Wesley Snipes was effortlessly cool as the vampire hunter Blade, who had vampiric powers himself. Years before “superhero movies” became their own genre, Blade was rated-R action, with blood flowing and fists flying in equal measure. The sequel, “Blade II,” was helmed by Guillermo del Toro, whose love of comics and creatures added great visuals and squishy squibs of blood and guts all over the place. Although there are a few rough CGI moments, the bone-crunching fight choreography and stunning creature effects make “Blade II” an excellent ride that deepens the lore, thanks to a true auteur at the helm.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The first “Matrix” is over and Neo (Keanu Reeves) saved the day. He is the One. He can even fly! He’ll be the man to liberate the burgeoning human race from their machine oppressors, as foretold by the prophecy. But who made up that prophecy? Does Neo have to save the day? Why can’t he just be in love with his girlfriend Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss)? The Wachowski sisters’ ambitious sequel deconstructs the hero’s journey narrative of its predecessor, removing shades of power fantasy to clarify just what these people are fighting for: each other. The cyperpunk romance moves in a beguiling back-and-forth, between philosophical soliloquies and jaw-dropping, whizzbang combat. An extensive freeway chase sequence, featuring katanas slicing cars in half, motorcycles driving on the wrong side of the road and a bizarre pair of dreadlocked twins, is about as fun as studio action filmmaking can get.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The first “Paddington” film was gentle family fare, but the 2017 sequel felt engineered to equally fill hearts and break them. The titular bear just wants to buy a nice book about London for his aunt’s 100th birthday, but gets wrapped up in a complex scheme orchestrated by the diabolical Phoenix Buchanan (an endlessly charming Hugh Grant). While Paddington is consistently adorable, he deals with some shockingly dark thoughts: What if he’s abandoned by his family in jail? What if he…dies? Would he sacrifice himself for the ones he loves? But don’t worry: There’s a happy ending that reaffirms the power of community so purely that anyone with two eyes and a heart will be bawling.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

A meta spin on “The Nightmare on Elm Street” series, this 1994 film posits that Freddy Krueger is a real demon who is only kept under wraps through the production of the films. Because of that, the real-life team who made the original 1984 movie (including leads Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon, Freddy actor Robert Englund, and even director Wes Craven) star as heightened versions of themselves as the “real-life” Freddy comes through to their world. A bold vision of horror, it was a test-run on many of the concepts that popped up in Craven’s late-period masterwork, “Scream.”

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Though Disney has announced plans for a fifth “Toy Story” film, we’d like to remember simpler times when the franchise was only a trilogy. Directed by Lee Unkrich, 2010’s “Toy Story 3” jumps ahead to when Andy is getting ready to leave for college and accidentally throws his toys away. Naturally, chaos ensues and Woody must chase down the other toys and help restore their trust in Andy. The animated fun of the first two films is still present, but what sticks out the most about “Toy Story 3” is its poignant ruminations on loss and growing up. Come for the childhood nostalgia, but don’t be surprised if you shed a tear.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Set nine years after Jesse and Celine’s fateful night talking their way across Vienna, the sequel finds the couple meeting up in Paris at a reading for the book Jesse has written about their encounter. Director Richard Linklater and stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy collaborated on the memorable screenplay, which looks at love, life and the passage of time as Jesse and Celine wander the picturesque streets of Paris.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Director Taika Waititi reinvented Chris Hemsworth’s Norse hero after Thor’s first two movies were more Midgard-sized movies than Asgardian astonishments. In “Ragnarok,” Thor has a zanier sense of humor, a new haircut and has to stop both the end of the world and Cate Blanchett’s fearsome villain Hela without his powerful hammer Mjolnir. The supporting cast, like Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, nearly stole the show. “Ragnarok” ended up being such a hit that Waititi returned to direct the follow-up, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” in 2022.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

“Alien” might be a perfect science fiction film, and luckily James Cameron didn’t try to photocopy the script for his big-budget sequel. Instead, he ratcheted up the action and adventure, going big while the first film stayed contained. Stan Winston’s alien and special effects designs are one-of-a-kind, the cast is sprawling and filled with great actors (including memorable turns from Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser and Bill Paxton), and features an even better turn from Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, which earned her an Oscar nomination. By the time Ripley jumps into her bitchin’ power loader exoskeleton, the film earns its place in sequel history.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Rob Zombie’s directorial debut “House of 1,000 Corpses” may have its fans, but nothing will ever top his gleefully transgressive sequel, “The Devil’s Rejects,” in terms of sheer savagery. The story of a family of depraved psychopaths cutting a bloody swath across Texas, the film perfectly encapsulates all of Zombie’s genre obsessions. Overflowing with degradation, torture, mutilation and murder, “The Devil’s Rejects” is, nevertheless, quite funny at times. That mix of brutality and humor is tricky to pull off when the material is as extreme as this, but Zombie threads the needle… after stabbing it through a few eyeballs, of course.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

It wasn’t the lean and gripping 1982 thriller “First Blood” that made fictional Vietnam veteran John Rambo a potent symbol of American militarism on steroids. It was the over-the-top 1985 sequel – “Rambo: First Blood Part II” – that cemented the character as the living embodiment of war. Dropping Stallone’s one-man army back in the Vietnamese jungle that shaped him into an unstoppable soldier, the film’s muscular action sequences and head-scratching political subtext struck a primal chord in audiences around the world, to the point where President Ronald Reagan himself quipped publicly about the sequel numerous times throughout the summer of ’85.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Loaded with reverential solemnity but short on fun, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” kicked off the Trek film franchise on a dour note, and it wasn’t until Nicholas Meyer’s sprightly sequel that fans of the Gene Roddenberry TV show got the movie they wanted. Pitting the crew of the Enterprise against a genetically-engineered nemesis from their past, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” had everything the first film lacked, including humor, pacing and a charismatic villain. Widely regarded as the best entry in the series, Meyer’s follow-up also pioneered the use of visual easter eggs and clever callbacks that reward eagle-eyed viewers.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The third entry in National Lampoon’s Vacation series is a hilarious holiday comedy that finds the goofy Griswold family struggling to keep the joy of Christmas alive while disgusting relatives, obnoxious neighbors, heartless bosses and rampaging squirrels make their home a living hell. Although it wasn’t as successful at the box office as the original film during its initial release, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” has developed a devoted following over the years, with countless fans now revisiting it every December along with festive favorites like “Elf,” “Home Alone” and “A Christmas Story.”

Read Variety‘s original review here.

In Blake Edwards’ cheeky 1963 comedy “The Pink Panther,” Peter Sellers shared top billing with co-stars David Niven and Robert Wagner, but he wisely took center stage in the brilliantly funny sequel, “A Shot in the Dark,” which was released the following year. From the outrageous slapstick gags to the silly plot twists to Sellers’ exaggerated French accent, everything about the sequel is bigger, brighter and far more entertaining than the original. “A Shot in the Dark” also introduced memorable characters like Commissioner Dreyfus and Cato (played by Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk) who went on to become Panther mainstays.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Never doubt James Cameron. It’s a phrase that was written countless times after the release of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the director’s 13-years-in-the-making sequel to the highest grossing movie of all time (unadjusted for inflation). As social media continued to debate whether or not the first “Avatar” movie had any cultural relevancy, its sequel defied all expectations and grossed $2.4 billion at the worldwide box office to become the third top-grosser in history. But money is not what makes “The Way of Water” a great sequel. Creating new technology in order to capture motion capture performances under water, Cameron delivered another eye-popping and show-stopping cinema spectacle that is an entirely different visual dazzler than the first “Avatar.” Barely anything on screen is real, and yet it’s effortless to accept Pandora and the space around the characters as if it is. That alone makes “The Way of Water” impressive. While the sequel got dinged for repeating story beats, it does so on an entirely different and far more intimate scale. “The Way of Water” is not an epic battle movie. Its plot is simple for a Hollywood tentpole (it effectively boils down to parents just protecting and saving their kids, there’s no universe-ending threat anywhere to be found) that it almost feels radical. “The Way of Water” cuts back on plot and goes all in on world-building immersion and emotional family dynamics, making it levels above the original “Avatar.”

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Peter Jackson’s 200-minute “The Return of the King” solidified his take on J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy as one of cinema’s finest fantasy adaptations. The film won best picture and 10 other Academy Awards, shoveling in over $1.1 billion at the global box office, outselling the previous two Middle-earth installments. With groundbreaking visual effects, “Return of the King” showed off Jackson’s technological prowess and brought his trilogy to a thrilling climax with the epic Battle of Cirith Ungol. But what makes the film truly sing are the small, intimate moments between Samwise and Frodo, on a medieval road trip to save the world.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

It ain’t easy being Spider-Man. The 2004 sequel sees Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) struggling at university, failing to hold down a job and stumbling to make a move on the girl of his dreams (Kirsten Dunst). Also, the scientist that he looks up to (Alfred Molina) has nailed himself to two pairs of sentient cyborg tentacles. There’s no shortage of inventive, show-stopping action, but the film’s true stroke of genius is how elegantly it centers the stakes of each of Parker’s personal relationships. Every scene is a set piece in “Spider-Man 2” and Sam Raimi directs the hell out of all them.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

If you thought the first ”Gremlins” got too crazy, then watch out for “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.” This movie has a smart Gremlin that belts out Frank Sinatra classics. There’s a Gremlin with wings that gets covered in concrete and turns into a gargoyle. There’s an electric Gremlin that kills everything it touches. There’s a lady Gremlin that just wants to smooch. There’s a spider Gremlin. There’s a really stupid Gremlin. All of these Gremlins wreak havoc in a mega-conglomerate’s New York skyscraper that has a different business on each floor.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

Along with Tod Browning’s “Dracula,” James Whale’s horror classic “Frankenstein” helped usher in Universal Studios’ revered monster movies that lasted from 1931 until 1956. Comprised of more than 40 titles, many of them sequels, no entry in the series is more venerated today than Whale’s 1935 follow-up, “The Bride of Frankenstein.” Culminating in one of the creepiest marriage proposals in cinema history, this timeless film is aided immeasurably by Elsa Lanchester’s dual role as author Mary Shelley and the Monster’s iconic Bride. Award-winning makeup artist Jack Pierce collaborated with Whale on her gothic appearance.

Read Variety‘s original review here.

The only superhero movie to grace Variety’s 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” grossed over $1 billion at the global box office and revolutionized the comic book film, putting a gritty, more grounded spin on the Caped Crusader and demanding that the genre be taken seriously. The “Batman Begins” sequel portrays Bale’s imperfect hero trying to save a Gotham City on the brink of collapse, but the film’s political backdrop sets the stakes at a human level. And, of course, as the Joker, Heath Ledger delivers a career-defining — and Oscar-winning — performance, setting an entirely new standard for big-screen comic villains.

Read Variety’s original review here.

Longtime fans of Sylvester Stallone’s most iconic character had every reason in the world to believe that the nostalgic and emotionally satisfying 2006 film “Rocky Balboa” would be the final appearance of cinema’s favorite underdog. But director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan breathed new life into the beloved boxing saga when they teamed up with the Italian Stallion himself for the electrifying 2015 blockbuster “Creed.” Stallone earned an Oscar nomination for playing an older and wiser version of Rocky who takes Adonis Creed, the talented but troubled son of former champion Apollo Creed, under his wing in this inspiring crowd-pleaser.

Read Variety‘s original review here.