# Movie sequels and roman numbers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2000, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419 "2000-02-16T12:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/1 "2000-02-16T12:31:00Z")
I believe it began with the Rocky series of flicks. _Rocky II_, _Rocky III_ etc. The Superbowl uses them too. Here it’s getting a little cumbersome – Superbowls XXXVIII and XL will be occuring this decade. Why? Strictly for esthetic reasons? Just following the lead of the Rocky series? And yes, I know that some movies in recent years have moved away from roman numbers (_Scream_). * * * For excessive smiley useage: “Cancel the kitchen scraps for widows and orphans! No more merciful beheadings!! And cancel Christmas!!!” ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/2 "2000-02-16T13:24:00Z")
I’ve heard it said that the film was called _The Madness of King George_ because the studio believed that US cinema audiences would think that _The Madness of George III_ (the title of the play) was the second sequel to a film they had never heard of, _The Madness of George_. Any truth in this? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/3 "2000-02-16T13:30:00Z")
Yeah, it can get confusing. I remember talking about “Henry Vee” and being ridiculed for not knowing it was “Henry the _Fifth_”. I swore I’d never make that mistake again! So… Has anyone seen _Malcom the TENTH_ [Joke mode OFF :D] ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/4 "2000-02-16T13:59:00Z")
I thought all the football players would be naked in Super Bowl XXX. 😃 😃 😃 * * * Each of us, at some time in our lives, turns to someone - a father, a brother, a God - and asks, “Why am I here? What was I meant to be?” ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/5 "2000-02-16T14:02:00Z")
_TomH: I’ve heard it said that the film was called The Madness of King George because the studio believed that US cinema audiences would think that The Madness of George III (the title of the play) was the second sequel to a film they had never heard of, The Madness of George. Any truth in this?_ That’s what the [IMDb](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0110428) says. It was changed for the stupid Americans. * * * Each of us, at some time in our lives, turns to someone - a father, a brother, a God - and asks, “Why am I here? What was I meant to be?” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/6 "2000-02-16T14:11:00Z")
Probably the first was Godfather II. Previous to that, it was rare to do out and out sequels (though sometimes there would be series like James Bond). When a sequel was made, it would usually have a different name (e.g., The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark). I’d guess that Coppola wanted to make it clear that his film was a sequel to the first (which had made a hatful of money). Previous to that, the connection was made through the actors (e.g. “Peter Sellars returns as Inspector Clouseau”). But the big star of the Godfather – Marlon Brando – died at the end of the film, and some of the others were also killed off and unavailable to the story. It was evidently felt that the connection to the original was best made through the title. Later, it was discovered that people liked sequels and that you could predict the business a sequel would do as a certain percentage of the original. That made them more attractive to the money people, who liked a sure thing. The numbers have been spoofed (Naked Gun 33 1/2) and new variations have come up (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer). * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/7 "2000-02-16T14:28:00Z")
TomH: > [@](#): > > I’ve heard it said that the film was called The Madness of King George because the studio believed that US cinema audiences would think that The Madness of George III (the title of the play) was the second sequel to a film they had never heard of, The Madness of George. > Any truth in this? Sadly, not TomH. There are probably enough examples of real stupidity on both sides of the pond without inventing any. Every good Doper should have Snope’s Urban Legend in their favourite bookmarks. Snopes debunked this particular legend in [http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/george.htm](http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/george.htm) Russell ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/8 "2000-02-16T21:07:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Which should have been titled “I Still Know What You Did Two Summers Ago” * * * **Marge** : Your father is… resting. **Bart** : “Resting” hung over? “Resting” got fired? Help me out here. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/9 "2000-02-16T21:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Probably the first was Godfather II. Previous to that, it was rare to do out and out sequels (though sometimes there would be series like James Bond). When a sequel was made, it would usually have a different name (e.g., The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark). The gist of this is correct, although the first film to have a sequel titled First Film II was – believe it or not – Eisenstein’s \*Ivan Groznyj II[/1] (1958), better known in this country as _Ivan the Terrible, Part Two_. Of course, Eisenstein wasn’t exactly working within the Hollywood system, where sequel-making and -numbering has become an art in its own right. I do admire the simplicity of following up _Alien_ with _Aliens_. Clean, understated, and ups the ante nicely, especially if you knew the first film. * * * He thought he was the King of America, where they pour Coca-Cola just like vintage wine. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/10 "2000-02-17T01:21:00Z")
Another note on joke sequel numbers: In the same vein as _Naked Gun 2 1/2, Spaceballs_ was supposed to have a sequel that, for some reason, never came to light. The planned title was _Spaceballs 3: In Search Of 2._ ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/11 "2000-02-17T01:28:00Z")
Actually, I have read of history teachers noting that some students do initially refer to the book as “The Autobiography of Malcom the Tenth.” * * * “The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/12 "2000-02-17T04:25:00Z")
Apollo 13 did so well at the box office, and I loved the movie, but I haven’t even heard of the first 12 Apollo movies. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/13 "2000-02-17T12:19:00Z")
Russell, > [@](#): > > There are probably enough examples of real stupidity on both sides of the pond without inventing any. I wasn’t suggesting that American audiences were stupid, but that they would be less familiar than a UK audience with the standard monarch-numbering convention. Snopes suggests that there is an element of truth in the story, even quoting the director as saying that the claim was “not totally untrue”. This is typical of Snopes, to claim that a story is false then present evidence that tends to support it. IMHO, the whole red/white/green light thing is completely unnecessary and mars what is otherwise an excellent site. ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/14 "2000-02-17T12:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Babar714: > \*\*Apollo 13 did so well at the box office, and I loved the movie, but I haven’t even heard of the first 12 Apollo movies. \*\* I wish I could say, with all my heart, that I didn’t experience this. A co-worker in her 20s (what generation is this X? Y? XYY?)thought Apollo 13 was a _science fiction_ movie. She had no knowledge of the Apollo space program and origanally thought, before she saw the previews, that it was related to the _Rocky_ series of movies. Of course, she said, that couldn’t be since Apollo was killed in Rocky IV by Ivan Drago. ## I have never wept for an entire generation, until then… _…send lawyers, guns, and money…_ ``` Warren Zevon ``` ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/15 "2000-02-17T13:13:00Z")
TomH - snopes is not above poking fun at all of us. I was one of many fooled by the “State of Kentucty copyrights it’s name, Kentucky Fried Chicken is renamed KFC” story. I would give you a link - but they have removed it. It did exist, honest. Russell ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/16 "2000-02-17T14:49:00Z")
Snopes can stick The Repository Of Lost Legends up…nevermind [/rant]. Anyways, a bigger gripe is that, lately, he’s been marking things true or false when the evidence is clearly either “unknown” or “unverifiable.” I know that Sherlock Holmes could make long strings of deductions based on one piece of evidence, but I doubt that Snopes lives at 221b Baker Street. Oh, and the last Naked Gun movie was Naked Gun 33 **1/3**. What was the subtitle of that again? “The Final Outrage”? * * * –It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats. ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/17 "2000-02-17T15:02:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Diceman** : > Oh, and the last Naked Gun movie was Naked Gun 33 **1/3**. What was the subtitle of that again? “The Final Outrage”? Close. It was The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final **Insult** * * * When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m beginning to believe it. –Clarence Darrow predicting the George W. Bush campaign ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/18 "2000-02-17T17:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > lately, he’s been marking things true or false when the evidence is clearly either “unknown” or “unverifiable.” Worse than that, he’s been marking things as “false” when the evidence is clearly “partly true”. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/19 "2000-02-17T17:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by RealityChuck: > But the big star of the Godfather – Marlon Brando – died at the end of the film, and some of the others were also killed off and unavailable to the story. Marlon Brando isn’t dead (yet). ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419/20 "2000-02-17T17:23:00Z")
Oh nevermind. You meant his character. Sorry :o [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-sequels-and-roman-numbers/7419.md?page=2)