The spolier boxes are only for those who bothered actually reading the OP.
Alright. Just got back from a somewhat soggy 4th of J. celebration.
You people, I swear.
Because of the dearth of serious respondents, I am going to declare the wager null and void and reward the winning post to be my very own.
Surely we can agree that this is the only reasonable and fair thing to do.
And so it seems that the One Quality Sequel film pairing is as rare as its near-identical cousin from the music industry, the Two-Hit-Wonder.
I’m out.
Except, my friend, Toy Story doesn’t count in your own rules because there’s a third one being made even as we speak.
I liked Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and its one sequel Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972).
A Rage in Harlem (1991) was based on another novel by the same author and has some characters in common, but I wouldn’t consider the film related to the first two.
Clerks and Clerks II?
Meet the Parents and Meet the Fokkers. The concept kinda logically precludes a third.
Terms of Endearment/The Evening Star
Chinatown/The Two Jakes
The Hustler/The Color of Money
I didn’t know about the making of Toy Story 3 but am not surprised. It’s in keeping with the age-old American notion of ‘If something works, then let’s run it into the ground.’
Toy Story 2’s plot was originally a last resort idea, in case the first one failed. Pixar really didn’t know how their movies were going to be received. They decided to crib the story they had planned originally for the first Toy Story and use it for 2, which they also decided should be a straight-to-video title, a standard Disney practice.
After Toy Story 1 came out to great acclaim, and A Bug’s Life looked set to be equally popular (it turned out it wasn’t, but it was still a success) they changed their minds about the format for 2, and made it for theatrical release.
Many years later, when Disney was still being run by a maniac, and Pixar had fulfilled their contract with them, Disney decided to take control of the Toy Story characters and make a Toy Story 3 without Pixar’s goodwill. A cry of dismay was heard from animation fans around the world. Then Michael Eisner retired, and Pixar and Disney merged more deliberately, and Toy Story 3 was immediately scrapped (it was the very first thing that happened after the merger).
Except… I think Pixar were inspired by what almost happened to come up with a story (I’m sure their story guys read the Disney invented premise and said “No! If you’re gonna make a sequel, it should be about this!”), because now a new Toy Story 3 is being prepped, based on this completely different story idea to Disney’s.
Pixar always say they will only make a sequel if they have a good story to tell, which is why there’s no hint of an Incredibles sequel (Brad Bird has not formulated a story for it). Their storytelling has been top notch every time so far (sure, some people don’t like some of the films as much as others, but as we have seen there’s no consensus on which is good or bad, so that means they have an audience they can tap no matter what they make) so I think you can trust that Toy Story 3 will be equally as good, and may be better, than what has gone before.
Sorry for the parentheses bombardment.
Men in Black/Men in Black II
Yes, I really did like MIB II!
LOVE.
No love for The Addams Family and Addams Family Values?
Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.
I liked both of those, but had the impression it was the death of Raul Julia that prevented a third film, not some uncharacteristic Hollywood sense of respect for quality. As it is, there was a painfully unfunny television revival in 1998.
Doesn’t satisfy the conditions of the OP. The only features in common between the two films were that they were adapted from novels by the same author and Newman as Fast Eddie Felson. No production staff in common, no other actors returning from the original (since either they or their characters were dead). Plus the OP wants quality sequels, and TCoM sucked.
Airplane I and II
You didn’t see Clerks II did you?
(Or you missed the part where the OP said “a follow-up that is as good as the first.”)
There was a third film. It was just directed by a different director and had a different cast, but was certainly Hollywood trying to milk the franchise for one more squirt of cash.
Addams Family isn’t in the running for this thread.
The Godfather and The Godfather II, of course.
Some silly folks will tell you that there was a third installment in that series, but nope! It NEVER EVER HAPPENED!!!
Seriously though, how about the Last Picture Show and Texasville? Although I didn’t see the second film, so I can’t give an opinion whether it’s good or not.