You know what they say about making a good first impression. For a movie, that first impression usually comes in the form of a title, which can immediately entice — or immediately turn off — a potential viewer. Does Back to the Future become a defining movie of the ’80s with its first title, Space Man From Pluto? I guess it’s possible, but I doubt it.
Today we’re looking at great movie titles — and specifically, great titles for movie sequels. As with sequels themselves, sequel titles can go one of two ways: Obvious and low-effort (think of any sequel with the number 2 at the end of the title) or inventive and original. Below, I’ve picked 25 sequel titles that emphatically belong to the latter category.
They’re ranked in ascending order, with the #25 as the least impressive and #1 claiming the title of the greatest sequel title ever. (Yes, a title for titles.) But this is all subjective. You might think #18 is the best title on the list. (It’s certainly a very good choice.) You might wonder why your favorite got left off entirely. (I’m sorry, Live Free or Die Hard! You just missed the cut.) Again, this is just one man’s list, and there are a lot of good sequel titles out there. (There are also a lot of bad sequel titles out there — as you can see on our previous list of the dumbest sequel subtitles in history.)
Without any additional rambling, and with a tip of the cap to the space man from Pluto, here are my picks for the best sequel titles…
The 25 Best Sequel Titles
These sequels all share one thing in common: They all have really good titles.
READ MORE: 20 Sequels That You Forgot Existed
The Least Likely Sequels That Actually Happened
We cannot believe these sequels exist.