This Is The Best Movie Sequel Of All Time

In the notes for his final novel “The Last Tycoon,” American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “there are no second acts in American lives.” Certainly, that turned out to be the case for him. He died shortly after penning the comment. When it comes to entertainment, this has not been the case. Broadway shows often have sequels. So do TV shows. Most notably, movie sequels have sometimes been great successes, as is the case with our “Best Movie Sequel Of All Time.”

Sequels come in more than one package. Sometimes entire casts of actors return for second, third, and even fourth or more follow-ups. Sometimes, lead actors and actresses are replaced, giving the sequel an entirely different spin. This was the case with “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015). Mel Gibson played Mad Max in three films. In the fourth and most recent installment, Tom Hardy played Max.

24/7 Tempo has identified the best sequel of all time based on critic and audience ratings on the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes.

Some of the best sequels ever made are also among the greatest films ever made. “The Dark Knight,” “The Godfather: Part II,” and each of the Toy Story sequels are such examples. Sequels that are better than the original build on what fans already know and love about the characters. One of these finished at the top after our analysis.

To determine the best movie sequel, 24/7 Tempo developed an index based on several measures from the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes. The index is a composite of the movies’ IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score. All ratings were weighted equally. Only films with at least 20,000 reviews on IMDb and 2,000 audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were considered. Data was collected mid-March 2021. Supplemental data on domestic box office and production budgets by movie came from industry data site the Numbers.

The best movie sequel of all time is “The Godfather: Part II” (1974), which starred Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Robert Duvall. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Its worldwide box office totaled $277.7 million (inflation-adjusted)

“The Godfather: Part II” is widely hailed as one of the greatest films of all time. The film chronicles Vito Coreleone’s (De Niro) rise to power in the Mafia along with the struggle of his son (Pacino) to maintain power decades later. The film won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, and Best Director for Coppola.

Click here to read The 25 Best Movie Sequels of All Time.