I was recently watching The Color of Money (1986), a sequel to The Hustler (1961), and that got me wondering — how old is the concept of a “legacy sequel,” and could I think af any earlier sequels?
After posting my question on farious social medias, and chatting with friends, I think we came up with some good answers.
For the purposes of this question, let's define Legacy Sequel as a movie sequel where:
- The sequel is at least 10 years later than the previous film
- Preferred that it be a continuing story from the original film
- Continuity of cast preferred, or at least continuity of production company or key creative staff
- A single film, followed by a long gap, followed by a sequel preferred, rather than as part of a continuing franchise that just happens to have a gap in it
- I am most interested in the release date of the sequel, not the length of gap between original and sequel
I've arranged the results here in a table, ordered by oldest date of sequel release, and adding gap info for those interested in that detail. Some of them have caveats, which I explain in the footnotes below.
Earliest without an asterisk, I think, is International Velvet (1978). Can you think of any earlier ones? Let me know!
You'll notice that most of the films here are American, but that's just because I (and my social media followers) am most familiar with those. If you have information about films from other locales meeting the criteria, I'd be happy to add them!
| Sequel | Original | Gap (years) |
|---|---|---|
| The Black Bird1 (1975) | The Maltese Falcon (1941) | 34 |
| International Velvet (1978) Earliest sequel release date without a footnote! |
National Velvet (1944) | 34 |
| Force 10 from Navarone (1978) | The Guns of Navarone (1961) | 17 |
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)2 | Star Trek (1966–1969) | 10 |
| Psycho II (1983) | Psycho (1960) | 23 |
| The Sting II (1983) | The Sting (1973) | 10 |
| 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) | 2001 (1968) | 16 |
| Return to Oz (1985)3 | The Wizard of Oz (1939) | 46 |
| The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985) | The Dirty Dozen (1967) | 18 |
| The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1972) | 14 |
| The Color of Money (1986) | The Hustler (1961) | 25 |
| Big Bad Mama II (1987) | Big Bad Mama (1974) | 13 |
| Die Hard (1988)4 | The Detective (1968) | 20 |
| The Two Jakes (1990) | Chinatown (1974) | 16 |
| Texasville (1990) | The Last Picture Show (1971) | 19 |
| Clarence (1990) | It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) | 44 |
| Rock ’n’ Roll High School Forever (1991) | Rock ’n’ Roll High School (1979) | 12 |
| Scarlett (1994)5 | Gone With the Wind (1939) | 55 |
| To Sir, With Love II (1996) | To Sir, With Love (1967) | 29 |
| Escape from L.A. (1996) | Escape from New York (1981) | 15 |
| Fantasia 2000 (1999)6 | Fantasia (1940) | 59 |
| Tron: Legacy (2010) | Tron (1982) | 28 |
| The Thing (2011)7 | The Thing (1982) | 29 |
| Split (2016) | Unbreakable (2000) | 16 |
| Blade Runner 2049 (2017) | Blade Runner (1982) | 35 |
| Mary Poppins Returns (2018) | Mary Poppins (1964) | 54 |
| Doctor Sleep (2019) | The Shining (1980) | 39 |
| History of the World: Part II (2023) | History of the World: Part I (1981) | 42 |
- This movie was a comedy, almost a spoof of the original film, but producers had the rights to the Dashiel Hammet book, so… I guess? ↩
- The original wasn’t a film, but it IS a continuing story. ↩
- The “unofficial” sequel was made by Disney, not MGM, but it was a continuing story, based on Baum sequel books. ↩
- The book it’s based on is a sequel, but is the movie a sequel? I’d say no. Not a continuing story either. ↩
- The sequel is is a TV miniseries. ↩
- Not really a continuing story, due to its anthology nature. ↩
- Prequel, not a sequel. ↩