The threads about non-appearing characters and recently-seen films has made me think of this.
They called the first film of the Nick and Nora Charles films The Thin Man, and people thought it referred to Nick Charles. So the rest of the series had “The Thin Man” in the title so you’d know it was part of the same series. This was a common thing with movies – they want you to know if the film is connected with a famous and well-loved cycle, so people will be motivated to see the new ones. So you had the “Ma and Pa Kettle” series and the “Blondie” series and the “Tarzan” series. Even the Star Wars films work that title in somehow.
Not every series needed this – the James Bond movies didn’t have the name “James Bond” in the title (although it, and “007” were prominent in advertising).
But sometimes they’ll give a movie a title that doesn’t fit in the rest of the series.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first that comes to mind. All the others are “Indiana Jones and…” Of course, it was the first in the series, and they might not have known there would be more. (In a way, it’s like the Ma and Pa Kettle series. That was a spinoff of the movie The Egg and I, where the studio didn’t realize how popular the characters would be. But it’s hard to believe Lucas and Spielberg hadn’t considered that Indiana Jones would be similarly popular).
A case where it was a sequel that didn’t follow the lead was the Pink Panther films. After the success of the first one (Titled simply The Pink Panther), the sequel was A Shot in the Dark. It made sense, I guess – the titular jewel was not involved, and they adapted the screenplay from a pre-existing stage play of that title. The second sequel was called Inspector Clouseau (and it didn’t even have Peter Sellers in it). But by the time they got to the next sequel, they put “The Pink Panther” in the title again. Not, I observe “Inspector Clouseau”. Well, it had been a dozen years since the first, the Depatie-Freleng cartoon openings were a draw themselves, and it indicated the sort of zaniness the films would introduce. It also featured the return on the titular diamond, so it really WAS “The Return of the Pink Panther.” The diamond showed up in some later films and the reboot, but not all of them.
Well, there’s Chinatown, and The Two Jakes. If you didn’t already know that the latter was a sequel to the former, there’s no way you could tell from the titles.
The first Rambo movie was just “First Blood”, followed by “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (a truly terrible sequel name).
For some reason I thought that the Mad Max movies also had a weird naming convention, at least for the first one. But they’re all “Mad Max…” films. I think I was thinking of how wildly different the first movie is in tone and setting than the others.
The second Mad Max movie was Mad Max 2 in many territories. It was called just The Road Warrior in North America.
Not a movie series but definitely a serialized franchise: only one serial within the history of Doctor Who had those two words in the title. “Doctor Who and the Silurians” (there were a couple of individual episodes earlier on, when each part of a serial had its own title, but this is for one complete story) was named erroneously. Without reigniting the debate about his actual name (the character was listed in the closing credits as “Doctor Who” rather than “The Doctor” up into the Eccleston years). The seven-parter was meant to just be called “The Silurians.”
As well, of the two feature films starring Peter Cushing as the titular character (non-canonical, and he’s called “Doctor Who” in them), have different naming conventions. The first one, Doctor Who and the Daleks, is followed by the clumsily titled Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.
Not the second one. The first sequel to the original Mad Max was The Road Warrior. When The Road Warrior first came out in North America, most people didn’t even know it was a sequel. There’s basically nothing from the first movie that you need to know for TRW to make sense.
Then they continued it with simply Rambo III. I was so disappointed that it wasn’t First Blood part III or maybe Second Blood Part I.
In the Jaws series they got antsy after Jaws 3D and made the next one Jaws: The Revenge. Although I think they just wanted you to forget about the dreadful 3D entry inti the series.
One series they didn’t even think of using similar titles with was In the Heat of the Night (1967). The two sequels were They Call Me MISTER Tibbs (1970 (title from a prominent line in the film) and The Organization (1971)
One special case I can think of – Foreign titles don’t necessarily reflect the original naming at all. The first three in the British series about Professor Bernard Quatermass was titled (after the TV serials they were based on)
The Quatermass Xperiment
Quatermas 2
Quatermas and the Pit
In the US these became
The Creeping Unknown
Enemy from Space
Five Million Years to Earth
Evidently the US releasers didn’t car if you knew they were a series. Or even if the last title made any sense. It looks like an attempt to make people think about the Harryhausen film Fifty Million Miles to Earth
House II: The Second Story was produced by the same company and many of the same people, but its only connection to the first movie was that it took place in a magical house where the kitchen door did not always take you to the kitchen.
The third movie was a straight horror film, with no comedy at all. It was released in the USA as The Horror Show, and in Europe and Australia as House III: The Horror Show.
House IV: The Repossession was the only film in the series that was actually a sequel to the first movie.
The sequels to Beethoven used the format Beethoven’s 2nd, Beethoven’s 3rd, etc. - until they got to the sixth movie, which was titled Beethoven’s Big Break.
Only for its US release. In Australia, where it was made, it was Mad Max 2.
But because the first movie made zero splash in the US, and because as you say the second movie stands functionally alone, the alternative title was used by US distributors.