Is the Film a Prequel, Sequel, or Remake?

Cinephiles often complain that most of today’s cinematic offerings are just repackaged goods: an endless series of sequels, reboots, or remakes. Identifying where a film falls in a timeline—or if it’s even an original film at all—can be challenging. (This probably proved especially true for viewers of 1974’s The Godfather Part II, which continued the story of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone while also looking back at Robert De Niro’s younger Vito Corleone, making it the rare sequel-slash-prequel.)

See if you can decipher whether the following movies are sequels, prequels (which take place before the events of an earlier film), or remakes in the quiz below.

Studios have gotten more creative at being uncreative in recent years, moving beyond simple sequels. They might opt to continue a hit film franchise decades after the last installment, which is commonly known as a “legacy sequel.” (Think 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick.) Or they might choose to “reboot” a film series, as in the case of 2015’s Creed, which puts the focus on Adonis Creed, son of the Rocky franchise’s Apollo. A “requel” might be a film that appears to be a reboot or remake but reveals that it shares a narrative with an earlier film (2011’s The Thing).

Frustrating? Sure. But it’s easy to see why executives are obsessed: Of the top 10 grossing movies, eight are sequels.

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