Were there any sequel movies before Star Wars?

Cafe Society
1

Since about the time of Star Wars it seems the sequel to the latest blockbuster is in production before the first one is even in the theaters but I’m having a hard time coming up with a sequel movie before Star Wars.

I know there were all those serials like Flash Gordon and Superman and of course there was Chaplin with the tramp movies, Laurel and Hardy, The stooges and such. But that’s not quite the sequel I’m thinking of. I’m thinking more along the lines of “Casablanca 2 The Return of Ilsa” or “Psycho Part 3, Mothers Revenge”.

Any Movie buffs out there come up with anything that fits the bill form the old black and white movie days?
If not Why Not?
When why the change?

2

Godfather.

3

James Bond.

4

The Fall of a Nation, 1916, sequel to Birth of a Nation.

5

Airport, Airport 1975, Airport '77 (and The Concorde … Airport '79 which was after Star Wars but before The Empire Strikes Back)

The various Bond films and the Road movies with Hope and Crosby might also be considered sequels.

6

Hell, we go back a lot further than that: the William Powell / Myrna Loy “Thin Man” movies, for one (1934). Sequels are probably just about as old as Hollywood, and were a natural idea borrowed from earlier mediums. Especially if we are counting things originally conceived of as a series - such as the Bulldog Drummond series from 1929.

7

Topper, Topper Takes a Trip, and Topper Returns.

8

There were zillions of sequels from the earliest days of movies. The form of them gradually evolved, though.

The oldest sequels took a hit, threw the same stars in the same plot, but slightly tweaked the name - or not even that. Pearl White, the serial heroine, starred in The Perils of Pauline in 1914. Later that year they redid the story as The Exploits of Elaine (1914-1915) and followed that in 1915 with The New Exploits of Elaine and The Romance of Elaine. You can’t think of these as anything but sequels.

In the sound era, Universal, then a relatively minor studio, made its name by pumping out horror movies in the 30s. These included Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. Similarly, they made *Dracula *and Dracula’s Daughter. They rebooted all the series in the 40s and made every monster the star of a series of sequels.

Even closer to modern-day sequels were the six Thin Man movies, all starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, and the seven Road movies, all starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour.

B-movies series by the dozens existed. Detective/crime fighters like The Saint, the Falcon, Boston Blackie, Charlie Chan, Ellery Queen, Philo Vance, and a page full of others each had a half dozen of more movies made about them. So did western stars Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers and more.

In some ways, we’re beginning to blur the distinction between sequels and series. Modern sequels often - but not always - make specific reference to the earlier movies. Oldtime series seldom - but sometimes - did.

“More of the same” has been Hollywood’s motto since day one. There have always been sequels. Always. There have always been franchises. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were a franchise. Abbott and Costello were a franchise. MGM musicals were a franchise. We’ve just skewed the definition a bit to fit our times, but the underlying structure of the planning, promotion, and production of sequels and franchises really hasn’t budged a bit since Edison made them.

9

Did some digging and found that the first full-length movie sequel was in 1916, when the now famous (and infamous) The Birth of a Nation was followed by its sequel, now lost, The Fall of a Nation. It wasn’t made by D. W. Griffin, of course. The author of both novels wrote and directed it for a small production company. It did poorly at the box office and disappeared. That’s like some modern sequels, too.

10

Moderator Action

Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society.

11

The series movie, especially monster ones, were jokes long before Star Wars - the Bride of the Son of the Ghost of Frankenstein’s Mohel, that kind of thing. I wonder if there were sequels of the SW sort, in that there was a plan for multiple movies (if it did the business) and not just figuring out a next one or having TV series like episodes. Let’s not count the Flash Gordon model of one story split into little pieces, full movies only.

I’m not sure if The Godfather counts or not.

12

All of the Universal monster flicks from the 1930s. Most of the AIP creature features from the 50s. All the Toho Godzilla flicks. Creature from the Black Lagoon had 2 sequels. King Kong (1933) rushed out a sequel within 9 months - Son of Kong (also 1933).

(Guess how I spent my childhood weekends)

Sequels and remakes have been around as long as cinema. Heck, 300 years before cinema was invented Shakespeare was writing sequels.

13

There were quite a few Blondie movies in the 30’s and 40’s too I believe.

Hard to believe Debra Harry is that old.

14

Quatermass 2 (1957) often claimed to be the first franchise with a “2” sequel.

The Fly/ Return of the Fly/ Curse Of The Fly
The Invisible Man (1933), The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), Invisible Agent (1942), The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)
The magnificent seven, Return of the Seven (1966), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972)

Westworld/ Futureworld

15

In fairness, the first Flash Gordon serial was followed years later by a second Flash Gordon serial, followed years later by a third Flash Gordon serial – each condensed into a separate feature-length film. (And, likewise, Johnny Weissmuller did a Tarzan movie, followed years later by another Tarzan movie, followed years later by another Tarzan movie, followed years later by Tarzan Finds A Son!)

16

Son of Kong came out a year after King Kong.

17

Planet of the Apes

18

My mind’s going. I swear I never saw that post before.

19

Jaws 2 came out in 1978. Empire Strikes Back didn’t arrive until 1980.

Shakespeare wrote sequels, Dickens wrote sequels. If you want to nitpick, the Acts of the Apostles can be considered a “sequel” to the Gospel of Luke.

There was a 1957 movie called Amazing Colossal Man. There was a 1958 movie called Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Different production companies, but the same screenwriter. Does that count as a sequel?

20

1920’s Mark of Zorro was followed by 1925’s Don Q, Son Of Zorro, where Don Diego de la Vega’s son the trick-shot whip expert takes up the family business and pretty much does okay until the ending, when he needs help from his dad – at which the bad guys are up against two Douglas Fairbankses, so, y’know, fight’s over.