I know numbered sequels are a relatively “new” thing (Godfather Part 2 was one of the first) but it seems like in the past couple of decades we’ve kind of gone away from the numbered sequels. Most MCU films besides Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy don’t use numbers for example. Jurassic Park only numbered the 3rd film in the series. Fast and the Furious only numbers them when they can’t think of a snappy title. John Wick is the only film series recently that’s all numbers. It makes keep tracking of movie order kind of hard if you aren’t too invested in the series.
It depends how you count Enemy from Space, a.k.a. Quatermass 2 (1957).
“This is believed to be the first film ever to use the Arabic numeral 2 as an indicator that it was the sequel to another film (as opposed to Roman numerals)… This film was released and apparently shown theatrically in the UK in 1957 as Quatermass II, which was the TV serial title. No copies of a print with this title are thought to exist. The only version available on DVD is a print entitled Quatermass 2….” - Quatermass 2 (1957) - Trivia - IMDb
Seems like the decision to use numerals or a subtitle or both is pretty random in most cases. I’m sure it’s not that big a deal to studios as long as the name of the franchise is included.
Well, I think part of the idea is that the higher the number, the lamer people expect the churned out sequel to be. So they don’t number them, but emphasize a subtitle instead.
You can watch this happen with Puppet Master, which numbered 1-5, then stopped…then resumed with Puppet Master 10(which is stylized Puppet Master X: Axis Rising), then stopped again for Puppet Master 11-forward.
I thought it was Godfather Part II that popularized the roman numeral method. Looks fancier?
John Wick is weird because Part 3 got a subtitle, but the others did not. It was still numbered, but then Part 4 came out and had no subtitle.
I won’t even get into Rambo’s numbering and not numbering issues.
I think it’s because, to a modern audience, using a number (even a Roman numeral) makes the sequel look derivative, especially considering that probably the majority of movies that get sequels are derivative.
That’s why you see the studios getting a little looser with sequel titles, like I Still Know What you Did Last Summer, Ocean’s 12, Analyze That, etc. They want to seem fresh, like, “Hey, if we actually put some thought into the title, maybe people won’t think we’re just retreading old ground.”
Creed II and Creed III have entered the chat, although granted that can be considered establishing continuity with the Rocky series.
In that case, Toy Storys 2, 3 and 4 have entered the chat.
I would guess that a percentage of people who see any given movie have not always seen the (sometimes numerous) prequels. Often this does not matter much. But maybe some might be less likely to see something new if it has a high number??
Also plenty of series grow lamer with time.
They’ll have to stop using just numbers at some point. Who wants to go so Jurassic Park 512? They’ll need a catchy sub title to sell the movie, so they might as well drop the number.
I loved all the Thin Man movies. No numbers there.
At least the Rambo franchise is linear and continuous,
Not like the Terminator series
where their are multiple sequels to the same film.
For example with Terminator:
The Terminator—Terminator 2: Judgment Day–Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines.
The Terminator—Terminator 2: Judgment Day–Terminator: Dark Fate
The Terminator—Terminator 2: Judgment Day–The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Terminator: Genysis was supposed to be reboot of the franchise.
I am not sure where Terminator: Salvation fits in to what timeline.
The Halloween franchise is a similar convoluted mess.
Yes, there are three Terminator 3 movies, only one called Terminator 3.
Salvation was a prequel.
Halloween is like this:
Halloween 1 & 2 are normal continuity. Halloween 3 has nothing to do with Michael Myers. Halloween 4-8 are back to the normal continuity, though they stopped numbering after 6.
Rob Zombie made a remake and a sequel to that remake.
Then, for some insane reason, they made a new Halloween 2(but called it Halloween) and two followups to that, neither of which have numbers.
Yeah, it’s very strange.
I just had a flashback to seeing the Heavy Metal movie (animated shorts) in 1981. In “Harry Canyon”, about a cab driver in the far future, he drove past a movie marquee with “Rocky 15” on it.
I don’t have much to add other than the sequel title I find the most confusing is:
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning
I’ve never bothered watching anything in the series, but I’ve always found that title confusing. A quick read of the Wiki summary reveals that they filmed the first two movies together and decided that the second movie was a better movie, so they switched the release dates and titles.
With video games it can get interesting:
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2
Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Ooh! Now do the Alien franchise. Throw in Predator as well.
They are making a new Gladiator movie. Not sure the title is final yet, but I saw this suggestion for the sequel(s) (inspired by the Alien franchise if course)
Gladiator
Gladiators
Gladiator 3
Gladiator: Resurrection
Prometheus
Gladiator: Covenant
There are two different games called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Marsden NFL 25 was released in 2013 for PS3 and Xbox 360; it referred to the 25th anniversary of the series and not the year as it otherwise would.
Rocky 5000 would like a word with you, as would Jaws 19.
Okay, so both of those things are making fun of how the numeric sequel numbering gets silly once taken to any extreme.
There’s a certain irony that the thin man of the first movie was not detective Nick Charles, but was the murder victim. He wasn’t in any of the other movies in the series, but the title lived on.
There were 16 Andy Hardy movies, according to Wikipedia. The first was A Family Affair. As Hardy became the central character in the films, they settled on titles like Love Finds Andy Hardy and Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary.
The Pink Panther films didn’t use numbers, either, until the very last in the series. The actual pink panther was a diamond that was stolen in the first movie, and Inspector Clouseau was not a major character. Then came A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau (with Alan Arkin as Clouseau) before the producers settled on all “Pink Panther” titles. When the series was rebooted with Steve Martin, the sequel was The Pink Panther 2
And there’s the “Airport” series
“Airport”
“Airport 1975”
*Airport '77"
“The Concorde … Airport '79” (a rare example of a movie title with an ellipsis)
I think Final Destination 2 takes the prize for silliest numbered sequel title.
Slight correction: 4 through 6 indeed follow on from the first two, but 7 and 8 (which weren’t numbered as such) pretend those three didn’t happen. The two Rob Zombie ones don’t fit with any of the Jamie Lee Curtis continuities. Then the recent trilogy discards 2 through 8 and is a direct continuation of the 1978 original.