In films I have:
Bill and Teds Bogus Journey
The Godfather 2 (As good)
Goldfinger (?)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1979)
The Thing (1982)
It’s not a common occurrence.
Silence of the Lambs
Die Hard
The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Bogart
drad dog wrote: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1979)”
Sacrilege.
Remakes:
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Frankenstein (1931)
His Girl Friday (1940) (a remake of The Front Page)
The Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol (1950)
Sequels: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
I love Kevin Mcarthy and Don Siegel but it’s just the way I roll
The Fly too. Take that…
Those are originals of which there are better sequels. Pray tell?
Fistful of Dollars was equalled by* For a Few Dollars More*, and both were eclipsed by the perfection that is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Not quite sequels, not quite remakes, but different attempts at creating something from a common palette, refining and polishing and improving with each attempt.
I don’t expect many too agree with this, but I like Sorcerer (1977) better than The Wages of Fear (1953).
From Russia With Love already beats Doctor No.
I’d also give the nod to Spider-Man 2 and The Dark Knight.
Aliens
El Mariachi
The Blob
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Die Hard is based on Roderick Thorp’s Nothing Lasts Forever, which is a sequel to his novel The Detective, which was adapted to film in 1968 with Frank Sinatra in the title role. There were a few minor changes made to the plot (such as changing the protagonist’s name from Joe Leland to John McClane) but the most interesting trivia is that the filmmakers were contractually obligated to offer the lead role to Frank Sinatra again. He turned them down, but could you imagine a 73-year-old Sinatra gunning down terrorists in the Nakatomi Plaza building?!?
Silence of the Lambs was a sequel to 1986’s Manhunter, based on Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon (remade in 2002 under the original name.) I thought everybody knew this?
I’ve never seen the original, but by all accounts, Ocean’s Eleven (2001) with George Clooney and Brad Pitt was far, far better than the Rat Pack original.
I didn’t think those first two were in the same genre much less sequeled. The trivia makes it valid.
The lambs: I also didn’t relate these, but they have completely different casts and crews. Nor remake or sequel exactly. I think a better example would be the Ripley movies
The rat pack: Yeah its easy to do better than an old action movie before jokes were very funny and special effects didn’t exist. I haven’t given either one a good viewing.
Oh a wiseguy huh? You’re right, but:
The Wizard is a musical, different genre than previous filmed version and different music than any play. I consider it an original work, and unduplicatable too.
And Thunderdome better than Mad Max and road warrior? No way dude. I actually think Road Warrior belongs on the list but I haven’t see them in too long. I just remember thunderdome as a letdown. IMHO
I assume you mean The Wiz, the 1978 musical starring Diana Ross, and that it was not a remake of The Wizard of Oz (1939). I suspect Reality Chuck may have meant that the 1939 The Wizard of Oz itself was a superior remake, since there was an earlier (and much lesser-known) version from 1925.
Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness are both superior to Evil Dead (although the first several minutes of ED II are confusing until it becomes clear they’re a retconned retelling of the first movie, and Ash isn’t just a complete moron who’s repeating his earlier mistakes with a new girlfriend). I haven’t seen the remake to comment on it.
Battlestar Galactica 2003 is …not even in the same league as the goofball 70s one.
Heartily agreed. I always watch these back-to-back and am blown away how they just keep getting better and better.
When I heard that Sergio Corbucci remade his excellent, but very grim The Mercenary one year later as an humorous version, I was wary. Unneccessarily, as it proved: Los Companeros might be a tad too long (especially for modern audiences), but Franco Nero and Tomas Milian have such great chemistry that I was laughing my ass off for over two hours. If Nero’s barrel dance wasn’t an inspiration for Captain Jack Sparrow, I’ll be damned. Bonus: Jack Palance drops his kit! 
Speaking of Milian…if you filed him as an permanent over-actor, check out Maurizio Lucidi’s The designated Victim from 1971 (the wistful title song is also sung by Milian). Often mislabelled as a giallo, it easily rivals Hitchcock’s *Strangers on a Train *both in the visual and acting department; Pierre Clementi’s totally different take on Robert Walker’s original part is a must-see. Excellent editing, too and the finale is positively riveting. It also features one of the finest Italian progressive rock albums, New Trolls Concerto Grosso, presumedly composed by L. E. Bacalov, which became a huge hit.
The first three sequels of Sasori are all very good, but the second trumps the first in every regard.
*Tremors II *got a lot of flak, but I liked it just as much as the first.
More a parody (or hommage, if you prefer), but I found Flesh Gordon much more entertaining than Flash Gordon. Reason: Power warts! 