A story of stories
The history of cinema has given us countless classics during its first 60 years of history but, on very few occasions, they conceived their creations around sagas as we know them today. As much, we find films starring the same character (Sherlock Holmes, for example) by virtue of adaptations, almost always, of successful novels that tell independent and self-contained stories. It was not until the 70s when the batch of North American directors, with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg at the helm, gave a fundamental turn to the industry, which was preparing from then on to become the spearhead of that phenomenon that it will transform the stories of the big screen into the very part of popular culture.
Planet of the Apesfrom 1968, will give rise to four more sequels until 1973, although the one that will change everything will be Star Wars in 1977. It is not until that moment that production companies begin to treat their films as franchises and when the new deliveries stop focusing on a single production to expand their universes with more adventures. The problem is that there comes a time when you have to reconcile the impossibility of continuing to advance in a franchise plot with the demands of some fans who demand more and more products based on it. What is the solution? Indeed, start from the beginning of everything. Go back to the prequels.
That has been, over the last four decades, the work that some producers have done when they have found themselves with names on their hands that, apparently, were already more than exploited. Alien, Star Wars, the X-Men… the list is very long and we bring it to you here, although only of those cases that have been especially relevant (for us).
The most important prequels
We do not intend to make a closed list because there are more prequels than the ones you can see here, but we have selected the most talked about, the ones that had the most importance at the time and not so much for its cinematographic value, which, in many cases, is also of a high level. So these are all that we have decided to include…
The Godfather II (1974)
Mario Puzo’s work had a second part, also directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and we cannot consider it a sequel as such, because it narrates events from different times in the lives of the protagonists. But yes, there is a moment in which it does take us to events prior to those seen in The Godfather two years before.
Zulu Dawn (1979)
This adventure that takes us back to the 19th century when England still maintains its domains in what is now South Africa, is the prequel to another from 1964 entitled Zulu and that he was able to see at the end of the 70s the path that cinema was going to take in the following decades. Directed by Douglas Hickox and starring a cast of actors that are remembered forever: Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole, Simon Ward or Bob Hoskins, among others. The story plunges us into the battle of Isandlwana between the British and the Zulu in 1879.
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
What to say about the movie closes the trilogy Return to the future and that takes us to the Wild West, when Doc and Marty stumble upon the harsh reality of Hill Valley’s founding years. There we will learn about the moments prior to the construction of the famous tower clock and some curiosities about the reason for the names of certain names and dynasties that will live in the valley in the following generations.
Mallrats (1995)
This little gem from Kevin Smith is curious that it was released a year after what would be its continuation, clerks, and travels to the past to tell us the events immediately prior to what we were able to enjoy in the 1994 production. Of course, do not think that we will see the protagonists as children or something like that, the action takes place just 24 hours before the sequel. If you haven’t seen them, what are you waiting for?
Red Dragon (2002)
The success of The silence of the lambs led Universal Pictures to create an entire saga around the character of Hannibal. Y East Red Dragon she is one of them although she travels to the past to tell us about events that offer a greater context for the protagonist. It is not that it is one of the most remembered works, but if you loved the movie starring Jodie Foster, surely this one interests you.
Star Wars Episode III (2005)
There is a fairly widespread consensus that the Episode III Revenge of the Sith It is the best of the first three installments that were released between 1999 and 2005. Basically because it is the one that tells us some facts that many had idealized when seeing Episodes IV, V and VI: the transformation of the Republic into an Empire and Anakin Skywalker’s passage to the Dark Side of the Force. Is there anything else to say?
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
You might think, “Is this movie a prequel? But it’s the first of a trilogy!” And you are right, but that condition is not obtained by its relationship with the following two films, but of the franchise started in 1968, the one starring Charlton Heston. It is because of her that she tells us what is the moment in which things go wrong while we glimpse the launch of the rocket that carries the character that will land on that ape-infested planet some time later.
X-Men First Class (2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t10iHCszYz0
There is no doubt that much of the blame for the success of the superhero movies of the last 20 years must go to the original trilogy of the X Men directed by Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner between 2000 and 2006. But it was in 2011 when, with Marvel Studios already underway, 20th Century Fox decided to explain to us what happened years before from the first X Men. At least within that same universe. And the work was extraordinary.
The Hobbit (2012)
Surely there is no need to say too much about what it is one of the most important sequels in history of cinema (and also of literature). The Hobbit was divided into three films that until 2016 told us many of the events that later explain what happened in The Lord of the rings. The most important, why that ring of power was in the hands of a creature as insignificant as Bilbo Baggins.
Monsters University (2013)
In 2002 Pixar was in a complete state of grace and SA monsters He explained to us the reason why we are so afraid of the closets in our rooms. Eleven years later, the plot goes back in time to show us how the main protagonists lived their university days of the previous film, as well as the explanation of some hobbies and fears that we had reference to in the original movie.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
The mother of all franchises of this century has a wizard name: Harry Potter. But when his literary and cinematographic saga ended with The Deathly Hallows, the Warner machine needed new storiesand these came, not through books, but through screenplays written exclusively for the big screen by JK Rowling herself.
In this new saga we will meet Newt Scamander, who arrives in New York with a suitcase loaded with magical creatures. The bad guy changes his name and is now called Gellert Grindelwald, plus we’ll meet some key characters from the Harry Potter universe. Or do you not know who Albus Dumbledore is?
