Best Legacy Sequels: The Best to Bring Back Your Favorites

Last Updated on February 16, 2024

Sequels are hard. If a movie is a big hit then of course the studio wants to make another one so that it can make more money. Fans want a sequel as they want to spend more time with the characters they loved the first time around. We want sequels. When is the sequel coming out? Where is the sequel? Why hasn’t the sequel come out yet? Fans get impatient. But as Captain America taught us in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming, patience is a virtue. Although he also taught us sometimes what we’re waiting for, wasn’t worth the wait. Luckily there are a lot of good sequels, but they can take a long time to make. We now call them Legacy Sequels. Some are better than others but some take the original property and propel it to a whole other level. What movies make the best legacy sequels?

Jurassic World (2015)

Three movies in the Jurassic Park franchise taught us that bringing dinosaurs back to life was not a good idea. Humans though are not persuaded that easily. Of course, someone went ahead and made the park anyway and finally opened it. At least with this film, we get to actually see a park full of tourists get terrorized by dinosaurs. It’s up to Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard to stop the genetically modified super dino from killing everyone. Even then we didn’t learn as two more movies came out after this to mixed results critically but boffo box office. People love these movies even if critics don’t.

Halloween (2018)

Remember back in 1998 when they decided to reboot the Halloween franchise? They said not to worry about any of the sequels. The only thing that really matters is the first film. And maybe the second. Forget all the stuff about druids and masks that turn your kid’s heads to bugs. Reboot culture got so crazy that they even rebooted that idea. Forget everything but the original film. Now 40 years later Michael Myers is breaking out of a mental asylum again, putting on his William Shatner mask, and heading on a collision course with Jamie Lee Curtis. This seemed to push the legacy sequel craze forward. It’s always fun to see Jamie Lee back as Laurie Strode but hopefully, we don’t have to redo all this again for the 60th anniversary.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

It seemed like a no-brainer to go back into the world of Blade Runner. It’s a shame that it took so long to get there. Other filmmakers like Paul W.S. Anderson even claimed to have made unofficial sequels (1998’s Soldier) that took place in the same universe but it wasn’t until 2017 that we finally found out what really happened to Deckard. When another Blade Runner is sent out on a job, he finds a mystery that leads him back to Rick Deckard. The visuals are breathtaking and the story is fantastic making it one of the best legacy sequels ever.

Scream (2022)

While it had only been 11 years since we had last traveled to Woodsboro it still felt like it had been too long. This time the story focused more on a new generation of teens but the original three survivors of Sidney, Dewey, and Gail all return. The killer seems to know a secret about the original murders and a connection by one of our main characters made this a fun thrill ride. Revisiting some of the classic moments of the original film and even the famous locations made this sequel the movie version of comfort food. David Arquette is the member of the original cast to really shine in this one.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

It took a whopping 30 years before George Miller brought Max back to the big screen. Tom Hardy took up the mantle of Max this time around and fans were ecstatic to see the character back in the dystopian world we hadn’t ventured into since 1985. This time around he is captured by some war boys but ends up running into a group of women who are trying to escape the clutches of Immortan Joe. He decides to help them out and help free the area of the warlord. The visuals in the film are amazing and with the action aboard a moving truck the whole time this movie never lets up. Filled with constant threats from all sides you never feel your heart slow down. This legacy sequel shows that sometimes the ride was worth the wait.

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017)

More of a side sequel than a direct sequel of the 1995 film. This one has some teens getting sucked into a video game based on everyone’s favorite board game. Even though Robin Williams sadly couldn’t be a part of it we do see a few tributes to him and his character throughout the film. Plus this movie has The Rock in it. Kids love The Rock right? The movie is a lot of fun and the performances of the main cast as teenagers trapped inside the avatars that don’t match their personalities at all are great to watch.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Mike Flanagan had the unenviable task of making a sequel to not only one of the most respected horror films of all time but made by one of the most respected film directors of all time. That is a lot of pressure. Especially when the super famous author of the original book has been very vocal about how much he hated the adaptation. For following up The Shining he not only made a great sequel but fixed some of the issues that Stephen King even had with the original film.

We meet up with Danny Torrance many years later and find that he has followed in his father’s footsteps. Alcoholism has overtaken his life as he wanders from place to place looking to get a drink. He finally settles down and sobers up in time to meet a new young girl with an even stronger shine than him. While he is happy with his new life, he has to confront a dangerous group of energy vampires that feed on people like him and his new friend. Of course, all this leads them back to confront some old demons at the Overlook Hotel.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Who you gonna call? Well, not the Ghostbusters apparently. Set long after the events of Ghostbusters 2 we find that Egon ran off with all their equipment and settled in a small town to keep guard over a temple to Gozer to prevent them from coming back. The Ghostbusters have disbanded and Egon has passed on. His daughter and her children have moved into the old farmhouse to see what they can sell before they move on. His granddaughter Phoebe takes after him and discovers that ghosts are not only real but that they are soon going to overrun the planet unless Gozer can be stopped for good.

The film is full of nostalgia and that’s okay. It has a lot of heart and it’s fun to just hear the sound of the proton packs being turned on again. Paul Rudd adds a lot of fun to the film as the kid’s science teacher and actress Mckenna Grace is spot on as Egon’s granddaughter. It’s not hard to believe that these two would be related. We get the requisite cameos from our favorite Ghostbusters (even though one of them has passed away) and really the only thing missing from the film is an appearance by Slimer. Maybe next time. This film showed the love for legacy sequels.

Bad Boys For Life (2020)

The original Michael Bay film was a big hit but the sequels seem to take their time coming out. Bad Boys hit in 1995, and we had to wait 8 years before Bad Boys II finally came to theaters. This time it was a 17-year wait. Marcus, played by Martin Lawrence, has retired from the police force but gets pulled back into action when his best friend Mike needs his help. A new vicious drug cartel has entered Miami, and they seem to be targeting Mike and his newly created team.

Having been away from these characters for so long it was great to see Lawrence and Smith back in their roles. They didn’t seem to miss a beat. Michael Bay didn’t direct this time but the action is still top-notch and the addition of the new AMMO team was a fun touch. Upgraded gadgets and firearms can’t always get the job done but these agents can.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

This film seems to be tearing up the box office at the moment and if you’ve seen the film then you know why. It was originally supposed to come out in 2019 but the pandemic saw it get pushed until 2022. It was a whopping 36 years between the first Top Gun and this film. That is a staggering amount of time. While everyone has their own opinion of Tom Cruise you do have to give him credit for only agreeing to do the film if there was minimal use of green screen and CGI used in the flight scenes. All the actors had to undergo flight and G-force training for the film. All the cockpit shots were done on real flights. That’s dedication.

Pete Mitchell returns to the Top Gun school this time to teach a young group of pilots. He doesn’t feel that he’s up to the role but takes it on. He has to confront his past as the son of his deceased best friend is one of the students. Things get off to a rocky start but the group quickly learns why Maverick is considered one of the best pilots to ever fly a jet.

What are some of your favorite legacy sequels? Let us know in the comments.