This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since February 2007. It may contain original research. Tagged since April 2008.

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, Movie, Cinema, or song that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same fictional universe as a previous work, usually chronologically following the events of that work.^[1]

In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear in a number of stories. Although the difference between more than one sequel and a series is somewhat arbitrary, it is clear that some media franchises have enough sequels to become a series, whether originally planned as such or not.

Sequels are attractive to creators and to publishers because there is less risk involved in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing new and untested characters and settings. Audiences are sometimes eager for more stories about popular characters or settings, making the production of sequels financially appealing.^[2]

In movies, sequels are common. There are many name formats for sequels. Usually, they either have unrelated titles, such as The Jewel of the Nile, the sequel to Romancing the Stone, or the same title as the original, but with a number added, as in Lethal Weapon 2, sequel to Lethal Weapon. Sometimes such titles have subtitles as well (e.g. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York). It is also common for a sequel to have a variation of the original title (such as Men of Boys Town, sequel to Boys Town). In the 1930s, many musical sequels had the year included in the title (Gold Diggers of 1933), in the style of Broadway revues such as the Ziegfeld Follies.

Chronologies[link]

There are a number of ways that subsequent works can be related to the chronology of the original. Various neologisms have been coined to describe them.

Sequel[link]

The most common approach is for the events of the second work to directly follow the events of the first, either picking up dangling plot threads or introducing a new conflict to drive the events of a second story.

Prequel[link]

A sequel that portrays events which precede those of the original work is called a "prequel." These can often avoid the plot problems associated with having to deal with the consequences of the original (e.g. the death of an important character). However, they pose the challenge of maintaining dramatic interest when the outcome is already known from the original work, so the focus is usually on the character interactions or revealing how the characters and situations of the original work developed. Examples are

• Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, recognized as one of the first film prequels, takes place before Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second film, takes place before Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Star Wars episodes I, II and III, the "prequel trilogy". The original trilogy comprised episodes IV-VI, in a sequence that was partially planned before the release of the first film. (See also Episode IV opening crawl.)
• Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse takes place in 1476, whereas the first and second game takes place in 1691 and 1698 respectively.
• the Yoshi's Island video games, that follow the Super Mario World games (as Yoshi's Island began with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) but take place before the events of the Mario franchise, when the Mario Bros. were babies.
• Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, a story of how the "Mystery Inc." met.

Interquel[link]

When there are already two or more completed works, an interquel can portray events that happened between them, bridging one story to the other.^[3] The interquel is therefore a sequel to one work and a prequel to another.

For example, the video game Metroid Prime and its sequels were released after Metroid and Metroid II, but take place between them. Another example is Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge which took place in the middle of Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie, but was released after them.

In film, the short film Rings bridges the events of The Ring and The Ring Two. This is more common in ancillary works in other media rather than works in a popular series. For example, the novel The Godfather Returns takes place between the events of the films The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and the story of the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (as well as the series) takes place between Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Midquel[link]

A midquel is a sequel which can take place during a chronology gap within a single previously completed work.^{[citation needed]} For example, the Narnia book The Horse and His Boy takes place during the reign of the Pevensie children, which happens towards the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Other midquels would be the films Bambi II, which starts out shortly after the death of the young deer's mother in Bambi but before the later scenes in which he is an adult. The video game Resident Evil 2 takes place during a brief interlude in its sequel Resident Evil 3: Nemesis; the video game Daxter takes place during a two-year gap in Jak II, between the moments when the character of Jak is taken prisoner and when he is rescued. The film Saw IV takes place during the events of Saw III. The game Halo 3: ODST takes place during the events of Halo 2 from an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper's perspective on Earth. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, The Han Solo Adventures take place entirely within the events of the novel Rebel Dawn, which itself ends after the start of A New Hope. The game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days takes place during Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and, briefly, there is a scene which ends it at the start of Kingdom Hearts II. .

Parallel[link]

A Parallel can portray the events of a previously completed work from another perspective.^{[citation needed]} As with a prequel, the focus is not on the outcome, but on the characters and previously unrevealed information. For example, the novel Ender's Shadow covers the events of the previous novel Ender's Game from the point of view of a supporting character in the original. The film The Lion King 1½ is a "parallel" of The Lion King; the same story is told, only from the point of view of Timon and Pumbaa, secondary characters in the original film. Similarly, the animated short BURN-E found as a special feature on the WALL-E DVD, tells the story of a maintenance robot set during, and interacting with, the events of the feature presentation. The first three novels in author E. E. Knight's Age of Fire series all take place at the same time, yet each book is told from a different character's point of view, the first, Dragon Champion, from grey scaleless dragon Auron's; the second, Dragon Avenger, from his sister Wistala; and the third, Dragon Outcast, from his unnamed copper brother. The video game Grand Theft Auto IV's expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony feature events that occur concurrently with the main storyline, from the perspectives of two new protagonists, with their three respective stories intersecting at various points.

Back to the Future Part II played around with the parallel concept by having the protagonist, Marty McFly, go back in time and watch the events of the first movie from a different angle, while never actually changing the effects of what happened.

Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" retells the events of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" from the point of view of what were minor characters in the original play.

American Girl's Marie-Grace and Cécile series are told from the perspectives of the two eponymous protagonists, with the books telling the story from the perspectives of either of the two.

Distant[link]

Sometimes there is a large chronological interval between the events in a completed work and its sequel. This can allow the creators additional freedom, since the characters and settings will not be expected to have as much in common. A distant sequel allows time for new conflicts to develop, and a distant prequel need not directly establish the setting for the original. Speaker for the Dead is an extreme example of this, set 3,000 years after the novel Ender's Game. Some of the sequels and prequels in the Chronicles of Narnia series are separated by centuries in the chronology of the fantasy land or decades in the chronology of the real world. The series Star Trek: The Next Generation follows the events of the original Star Trek by nearly a century. The Legend of Zelda video game series takes place over several hundred years, with many installments featuring various reincarnations of the characters Link and Zelda, who fight the antagonist Ganon, though some games are direct continuations of others. Some issues of the Tales of video game franchise, namely Tales of Symphonia immediately followed by its sequel, Dawn of the New World, and Tales of Phantasia, take place in the same location but very spaced in time. The video game Mother 3 takes place in an era very distant from Mother 2, though it is never stated exactly how long. In this example, only 2 characters return via time travel, with others only mentioned vaguely. More moderate chronological distances can result from works being set in "the present" but released years apart, such as The Terminator and its sequels, released in 1984, 1991, 2003 and 2009.

Spin-off[link]

A variety of sequel that allows substantial creative freedom is one that is set in the same fictional universe as the original work, but with unrelated plots, and sometimes unrelated characters. One example of this is the The Cleveland Show, which is based on Family Guy. The Cleveland Show follows a different character and storyline, but are set in the same fictional universe. Many of Kevin Smith's films take place in the same continuity, commonly referred to as the View Askewniverse, after his production company, although most feature characters only loosely connected to each other, like most characters common association with characters Jay and Silent Bob and having grown up in the same town, characters also frequently reference prominent events from other movies in passing. Screenwriter David Peoples described his film Soldier as a "sidequel" to Blade Runner (which he co-wrote)^{[citation needed]}. When done with the intention of launching a new series of stories, these are often called "spin-offs."The Scorpion King is a spin-off of The Mummy Returns.

Companion piece[link]

A companion piece is a creative work that is produced as a complementary work to another stand-alone project, but storywise has nothing to do with its predecessor. While a companion piece does not necessarily need to take place within the same "universe" as the predecessor, it must follow-up on specific themes and ideas introduced in the original work. It must also be intentionally meant by its creator to be viewed alongside or within the same context as the earlier work. Examples would include Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood's companion piece to his earlier picture, Flags of Our Fathers) which saw the same events taking place from a different perspective, the Road to... pictures starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope, and films featuring the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers, or the Tramp. Another example is Stephanie Meyer's Midnight Sun which is a project that has been on hold. Another would be Fantasia 2000, which uses the basic ideas of and some elements from Fantasia.

Reboot[link]

A reboot is a term often used for a sequel that is not in continuity with the episode or episodes that were released before it. It is often used in media franchises; for example, the Batman film series with Batman Begins, the Spider-Man film series' upcoming 2012 film, and the Star Trek film series with the 2009 film, Star Trek. In television, the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica was termed a "reimagining" of the original 1978 series. It has also been used for the Spyro video game series with a reboot known as The Legend of Spyro.

Stand-alone sequels[link]

When sequels are set in the same universe but have little or no reference to their predecessors, the work is called a stand-alone sequel. This is often the case of direct-to-video films that follow up on semi-successful works, though there are some mainstream films that are stand-alone. Examples include White Noise: The Light, Son of the Mask, Shock Treatment, Boogeyman 2, Home Alone 3, Like Mike 2: Streetball, Evan Almighty, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Another Cinderella Story, A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, Grease 2, Mean Girls 2, George A. Romero's subsequent Dead sequels after Night of the Living Dead, and City of Men. Another example would be the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Each of the original stories exist in the same universe, but are all treated as stand alone adventures and can be read in almost any order. A notable example in video games is the Quake series as well as many of the games in the Final Fantasy series, Legend of Zelda series and the Super Mario series. These works often do not require viewers to encounter the previous installments in order to understand them.

History[link]

It is impossible to say for sure when the history of the sequel begins, as the concept of the sequel in its loosest definition has presumably existed since the advent of storytelling itself. In The Afterlife of a Character, David Brewer coined the term “imaginative expansion” to describe a reader’s desire to “see more,” or to know what happens next in a narrative after it has ended.^[4] This capacity for expansive curiosity is certainly not restricted to a particular era in human history. Indeed, we can point to Homer’s ‘’Odyssey’’ as a sequel to the ‘’Iliad’’ in the sense that it expands upon plot and character elements established in the first text. That both the Odyssey and the Iliad were written in the 8th century B.C.E. and are traditionally held to represent the first extant works of western literature lends credence to the ubiquity of sequels in literary history. The Judeo-Christian Bible is also a common referent in that sense; many of the works included in the Hebrew Scriptures can be classified as sequels in that they continue and expand on a very general narrative that is pre-established by previous books in the same collection. In addition, the development of an official canon allows for the distinction between official and unofficial sequels; in this context, apocrypha might be considered an early form of informal sequel literature. Sequels, then, become an important facet of Western literature throughout history. The medieval genre of Romance, in particular, contains massive networks of prequel and sequel literature.

Sequels of the novel[link]

The origin of the sequel as we think of it today developed from the novella and romance traditions in a slow process that culminated towards the end of the 17th century (see: novel).

The substantial shift towards a rapidly growing print culture and the rise of the market system by the early 18th-century meant that an author’s merit and livelihood became increasingly linked to the number of copies of a work he or she could sell. This shift to a text-based to an author-centered reading culture^[5] led to the “professionalization” of the author— that is, the development of a “sense of identity based on a marketable skill and on supplying to a defined public a specialized service it was demanding.”^[6] In one sense, then, sequels became a means to profit further from previous work that had already obtained some measure of commercial success.^[7] As the establishment of a readership became increasingly important to the economic viability of authorship, sequels offered a means to establish a recurring economic outlet.

In addition to economic profit, the sequel was also used as a method to strengthen an author’s claim to his literary property. With weak copyright laws and unscrupulous booksellers willing to sell whatever they could, in some cases the only way to prove ownership of a text was to produce another like it. Sequels in this sense are rather limited in scope, as the authors are focused on producing “more of the same” to defend their “literary paternity.”^[8] As is true throughout history, sequels to novels provided an opportunity for authors to interact with a readership. This becomes especially important in the economy of the 18th century novel, in which an author needed to draw readers back with the promise of more of what they liked from the original in order to maintain readership. With sequels, therefore, came the implicit division of readers by authors into the categories of “desirable” and “undesirable”—that is, those that interpret the text in a way unsanctioned by the author. Only after having achieved a significant reader base would an author was free to alienate or ignore the “undesirable” readers.^[9]

This concept of “undesirable” readers extends to unofficial sequels with the 18th century novel. While in certain historical contexts unofficial sequels were actually the norm (for an example, see Arthurian literature), with the emphasis on the author function that arises in conjunction with the novel many authors began to see these kinds of unauthorized extensions as being in direct conflict with authorial authority. With Don Quixote (an early novel, perhaps better classified as a satirical romance), for example, Cervantes disapproved of Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda’s use of his characters in “Second Volume of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,” an unauthorized sequel. In response, he very firmly kills the protagonist at the end of the Second Part to discourage any more such creative liberties.^[10] Another example is Samuel Richardson, an 18th-century author that responded particularly strongly against the appropriation of his material by unauthorized third parties. Richardson was extremely vocal in his disapproval of the way the protagonist of his novel ‘’Pamela’’ was repeatedly incorporated into unauthorized sequels featuring particularly lewd plots. The most famous of these is Henry Fielding’s parody, entitled “Shamela.”^[11]

Gender and The 18th Century Sequel[link]

In “To Renew Their Former Acquaintance: Print, Gender, and Some Eighteenth Century Sequels” Betty Schellenburg theorizes that whereas for male writers in the 18th century sequels often served as “models of paternity and property,” for women writers these models were more likely to be seen as transgressive. Instead, the unique recurring readership created by sequels allowed female writers to function within the model of “familiar acquaintances reunited to enjoy the mutual pleasures of conversation,” which allowed writing to be perceived as an “activity within a private, non-economic sphere.” Ironically, of course, it was through this created perception that women writers were able to break into the economic sphere and “enhance their professional status” through authorship.^[12]

Dissociated from the motives of profit and therefore unrestrained by the need for continuity felt by male writers, Schellenburg argues that female-authored sequel fiction tended to have a much broader scope. Women writers showed an “innovative freedom” that male writers rejected in order to “protect their patrimony.” For example, Sarah Fielding Sarah Fielding’s Adventures of David Simple and its sequels Familiar Letters between the Principle Characters in David Simple and David Simple, Volume the Last are extremely innovative and cover almost the entire range of popular narrative styles of the 18th century.^[13]

Videogames[link]

Sequels in videogames started in the early 1980s (for example, games such as Super Pac-Man in 1982). As software development costs have increased,^[14][15] sequels have become increasingly important for the video game industry, as they provide a way to resell a product, reusing code and graphics.

Media franchises[link]

In some cases, the characters or setting of an original film or video game become so valuable that they develop into a media franchise. Generally a whole series of sequels is made, along with merchandising. Multiple sequels are often planned well in advance and actors and directors may sign extended contracts to ensure their participation.

This can extend into a franchise's initial production's plot in order to provide story material to develop for sequels called sequel hooks. For instance, the film Kung Fu Panda begins with Po, a giant panda, somehow having a goose for a father and the story deliberately avoids giving a definitive explanation of how that is possible. Po's quest to answer that question forms part of the plot of Kung Fu Panda 2, which in turn establishes Po and Tigress' deepening relationship and the last minute appearance of a supposedly dead species as story material for the next film.

Box office impact vs. original movie[link]

Although movie sequels do not always do as well at the box office as the original, they tend to do much better than non-sequels, according to a study in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Business Research. The shorter the period between releases, the better the sequel will do at the box office. Sequels also show a faster drop in weekly revenues relative to non-sequels.^[16]

Media shifting[link]

Sequels are most often produced in the same medium as the previous work (e.g. a film sequel is usually a sequel to another film). Producing sequels to a work in another medium has recently become common, especially when the new medium is less costly or time-consuming to produce.

A sequel to a popular but discontinued television series may be produced in another medium, thereby bypassing whatever factors led to the series cancellation. Noteworthy examples include the Star Trek films, Serenity (based on the Firefly series), and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series was continued after ending its run in 2003 for another "season" as a comic book. The Buffy series was itself a continuation of the unsuccessful film Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Gargoyles television series' comic book series, written by series creator, Greg Weisman, was written with a specific agenda to supplant the events of the television property's derided Goliath Chronicles phase.

Some highly popular movies and television series have inspired the production of multiple novel sequels, sometimes rivaling or even dwarfing the volume of works in the original medium. An ongoing series of novels (largely interquels) begun in the 1970s were based on the original Star Trek series, with more following with the sequel films and TV series. The novels and graphic novels in the Star Wars Expanded Universe are sequels, prequels, and interquels to the films.

Computer games are an increasingly common medium for sequels to films. The Matrix Online, Stranglehold, and Scarface: The World Is Yours are sequels to the films The Matrix, Hard Boiled, and Scarface, respectively.

Whether these alternate-medium sequels are considered canonical, varies. Bungie Studios, the developer of the Halo video games, considers the novel sequels to be canonical. The novels, comics, video games, and other media that comprise the Star Wars Expanded Universe are divided into tiers of canonicity by Lucasfilm, the films' production company, though the subject is often debated amongst fans. Likewise, novel sequels to the film Blade Runner are authorized and officially considered canonical, but the issue is also a topic of debate amongst fans.

Unofficial sequels[link]

Sometimes sequels are produced without the consent of the creator of the original work. These may be dubbed unofficial, informal, unauthorized, or illegitimate sequels. In some cases, the work is in the public domain, and there is no legal obstacle to producing sequels, for example Jean Rhys wrote Wide Sargasso Sea as a parallel to Jane Eyre. In other cases, the original creator or their heirs may assert copyrights and challenge the creators of the sequels. For example, the estate of Margaret Mitchell sued over Alice Randall's novel The Wind Done Gone, a parallel of Gone with the Wind told from the perspective of the slaves; it was successfully defended as parody. Unofficial sequels to works that are still under copyright may change the names of the characters and alter the settings in an attempt to avoid legal action.

Other examples of such unofficial sequels include:

Novels[link]

• Cosette: The Sequel To Les Misérables by Laura Kalpakian, created as a sequel to Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables. Cosette or the Time of Illusions and Marius or The Fugitive by François Cérésa, were also created as sequels to this novel.
• Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury was created as a sequel to Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy.
• The children novels Le petit prince retrouvé (The Little Prince Returns), The Return of the Little Prince, Les nouvelles aventures du petit prince (The New Adventures of the Little Prince) and Mały Książę i Róża (The Little Prince and the Rose) were based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.

Films[link]

• Happily Ever After was created as a sequel to Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• War, Inc., has been described by John Cusack as an informal sequel to Grosse Pointe Blank, as both films are dark comedies which feature Cusack playing a hitman.
• 20th Century Fox's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), was originally conceived as an official sequel to the studio's earlier hit Valley of the Dolls (1967). The first script written for Beyond included at least two of the characters from the original. Jacqueline Susann, author of the original Valley of the Dolls novel, objected to the studio making a sequel without her involvement and subsequently sued the studio. The names of the characters were changed and the actors who were in line to portray them again were released from the project. Beyond ended up needing a disclaimer at the beginning of the film and on all posters stating it was not a sequel, though much of the spirit was in the same vein as the original, with occasional references in costumes and dialogue.
• Return to Oz was incorrectly thought to be a sequel to Victor Fleming's 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. However, it was never intended to be assumed that way.

Titles[link]

The producers of sequels have taken a variety of approaches to titling their works.

In the early years of film, sequels were generally given titles similar to the original and usually made use of the main character's name. When the William Powell-Myrna Loy mystery film The Thin Man (1934) turned out to be a hit, the studio produced several more films featuring the characters, such as After the Thin Man and The Thin Man Goes Home, even though the original "thin man" was the subject of the mystery and not the detective. After the success of A Family Affair (1937), there came a whole series of films starring Mickey Rooney reprising the Andy Hardy character in titles such as Love Finds Andy Hardy and Andy Hardy Meets Debutante.

On the other hand, early sequels in world cinema often lacked any particular naming schemes. For example, the three films in Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959) had unrelated titles: Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). Similarly, Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro (1962) also had an unrelated name from its predecessor Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) (1961). Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy also lacked a naming scheme for its titles: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).

The James Bond franchise stuck to the titles of Ian Fleming's novels until they ran out, then fashioned new titles with similar forms, none of which use the name "James Bond 007" or a number. The Pink Panther series started out with a different title for each (The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, Inspector Clouseau) in the 1960s. When the series was later resumed, the new approach was to append phrases to The Pink Panther, many of which came from classic horror films, i.e. Son of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Curse. Even if the actual Pink Panther diamond that the series takes its name from is not involved in a given sequel, they were named The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther, Trail of the Pink Panther, Curse of the Pink Panther, and Son of the Pink Panther to clearly associate them with each other.

Numbered sequels (particularly using Roman numerals) became very popular in films and video games in the 1970s and 1980s. The Godfather Part II (1974) was the first major motion picture to use Part II in the title. The success of The Godfather, Part II began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels; the first sequel to designate itself as such simply by using a number in the title was 1975's French Connection II, and the trend continued with films such as Rocky II, Jaws 2 and Halloween II. Occasionally, a homophonous word is substituted for the number, such as in the case of Look Who's Talking Too, the sequel to Look Who's Talking, or the upcoming film Fletch Won, which is a prequel to the film Fletch. As sequels developed a reputation of being inferior to the original works, the numbering of sequels became less common, or sometimes used for humorous effect. Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult is simply the third in the Naked Gun series. Leonard Part 6 had no predecessors, while History of the World, Part I was made with no intention for a sequel. Many sequels use subtitles instead of numbers or in addition to them, such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Underworld: Evolution, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In other cases, sequels use titles similar to their predecessors, such as Analyze This sequel Analyze That, Meet the Parents sequel Meet the Fockers, and Night of the Living Dead sequel Dawn of the Dead. Some such titles give a playful nod to the numbering practice, as with The Whole Nine Yards sequel The Whole Ten Yards, 101 Dalmatians sequel 102 Dalmatians, or Ocean's Eleven sequels Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen.

Throughout this period of numbered sequels, like-named sequels remained somewhat popular, and sometimes the original film was renamed when it was released on home video to match the naming of the sequels. What was once known as Star Wars is now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark is known in its current video release as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark to better align it with its prequel and sequel, and the DVD of Pitch Black was renamed The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black to help promote it as a predecessor to its sequel The Chronicles of Riddick.

With the rise of pre-planned series such as The Lord of the Rings, filmmakers turned more to long titles that include the franchise name and the title of the film separated by a colon. Examples of these include Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Sequel-naming in translation varies. Following the success of Home Alone in Germany (German title: Allein zu Haus, or Alone at Home), some of Macaulay Culkin's other films were retitled to capitalize on the success (Uncle Buck became Allein mit Onkel Buck, or Alone with Uncle Buck), even though the two films were not linked in the same continuity. When Dawn of the Dead was released in Italy under the title Zombi, a similar but unrelated Italian film was in production, which was released as Zombi 2.

Numbers in the titles of sequels sometimes indicate the order in which the sequel was produced, regardless of the chronological events in the story. For example, the video game Devil May Cry 3 was the third title in the Devil May Cry series to be produced, though it is a prequel that takes place before the events of Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 2. Devil May Cry 4 is set between the original game and Devil May Cry 2. However, while the sequel to the Japanese movie Ring was called Ring 2, the subsequent prequel was Ring 0.

Occasionally a work is designated as a sequel to an unrelated but similar work strictly for marketing purposes. After releasing the computer game Quake, developer id Software decided to name its next game Quake II, despite the fact that the two games are completely unrelated. Quake III is also unrelated to either of the previous Quake games, although Quake 4 continues the story of Quake II. A further example is Capcom's Street Fighter 2010, which had nothing to do with any of the other Street Fighter games.

In recent years, many sequels have been given the name of the title character, to imply a new beginning for a series. This is commonly known as a "Stallone," for the actor who has given such outstanding examples of this nomenclature. The sixth Rocky film was titled Rocky Balboa; the fourth Rambo movie, following on from First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Rambo III was called Rambo in North America and John Rambo in many, but not all, international markets. Another example of a film to utilize a "Stallone" is the sixth St Trinian's film, titled St Trinian's. In a similar trend, the third sequel to The Fast and the Furious was simply named Fast & Furious, while the fourth sequel to Final Destination was named The Final Destination.

Yet another form of titling is the use of the plural version of the original work's title, as in Aliens, the sequel to Alien, and Predators, a sequel to Predator.

Though very seldom, a proper sequel, and not a reboot, may have exactly the same title as the original work, with none of the variations mentioned above. The 2009 film Star Trek, is one such case; by means of a time travel plot it is at once a prequel, sequel and reboot to the 1960's television series of exactly the same name. An even clearer example is the 2011 film The Thing, which is a prequel to the 1982 film with the exact same title.^[17] Likewise, the 2006 video game Sonic the Hedgehog is set later in the same continuity as the first game in the series, 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog. This is slightly more common in the world of music - artists as varied as Led Zeppelin, Weezer and Peter Gabriel have all followed up successful self-titled albums with another by the same name. Fans typically refer to them either by numerals (e.g., Led Zeppelin IV, Peter Gabriel 3) or by cover artwork content (e.g., The Green Album or Melt).

See also[link]

• Cliffhanger
• Film series
• List of video game franchises
• List of film sequels by box-office improvement
• List of the longest gaps between film sequels
• Prequel
• Spiritual successor
• Tetralogy
• Trilogy

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Constantine Verevis (2010), Second takes: critical approaches to the film sequel, SUNY Press, ISBN 9781438430294 

External links[link]

Look up sequel or threequel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Slate: "The Midas Formula (How to create a billion-dollar movie franchise)"
• Box Office Mojo: Film franchise earning comparison

Eddie Murphy
Murphy at the Tribeca Film Festival for Shrek Forever After in 2010.
Birth name	Edward Regan Murphy
Born	(1961-04-03) April 3, 1961 (age 51) Brooklyn, New York, United States
Medium	Film, television, stand-up, music, books
Nationality	American
Years active	1976–present
Genres	Observational comedy, musical comedy, black comedy, satire, physical comedy, Dance Pop
Subject(s)	African American culture, race relations, racism, marriage, everyday life, current events, pop culture, human sexuality
Influences	Bill Cosby,[1] Richard Pryor,[1] Peter Sellers, Redd Foxx[1] Robin Williams,[1]
Spouse	Nicole Mitchell (1993–2006) (divorced) 5 children Tracey Edmonds (2008) (unofficial)
Domestic partner(s)	Melanie Brown (2006–07) 1 child
Notable works and roles	Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop Various on Saturday Night Live Shrek series

Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician.

Box office takes from Murphy's films make him the second-highest grossing actor in the United States.^[2][3] He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984 and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.^[4]

He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls.^[5]

Eddie Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, Norbit, and Meet Dave.

Early life[link]

Murphy grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick.^[6] His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator, and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and an amateur actor and comedian.^[1][7][8][9] His father died when he was young. When Murphy's single mom became ill, the eight-year-old Eddie Murphy and his older brother lived in foster care for one year.^[10] In interviews, the actor and comedian says that his time in foster care was influential in developing his sense of humour. Later Murphy and his older brother Charlie were raised in Roosevelt, New York by his mother and stepfather Vernon Lynch, a foreman at an ice cream plant.^[1] Around the age of 15, Murphy was writing and performing his own routines, which were heavily influenced by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.^[1]

Career[link]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Murphy performed stand-up at the same Bay Area Comedy Club as Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. His early comedy was characterized by frequent swearing and sketches lampooning a diverse group of people (including WASPs, African Americans, Italian Americans, overweight people, and gay people). This racy content was akin to that of Richard Pryor, whom Murphy has credited as his inspiration to enter comedy;^[1] however, in his autobiography, Pryor Convictions, Pryor wrote that he found Murphy's comedy at times excessively insensitive. Murphy later apologized for insensitive jokes about gay people and HIV. The stand-up shows Delirious and Raw have been recorded and released.

1980s acting career[link]

Murphy in 1988

Murphy first earned attention as a regular actor at Saturday Night Live, and was credited with helping revitalize the series during its first true slump in quality in the early 1980s.^[11] Some of his notable characters included a grown version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat,^[12] impoverished but street-wise children's show host Mr. Robinson (a spoof of Fred Rogers, who found it amusing),^[13] and Gumby,^[12] a harshly cynical version of the animated character; Murphy's take on the latter character spawned one of SNL's many catchphrases, "I'm Gumby, dammit!" Although Buckwheat was his most popular character, Murphy asked that he be retired because the actor grew tired of people asking him to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!"; the character was assassinated on camera in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.^[14]

In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte.^[1] 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982 Christmas episode of Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd.^[1] The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director John Landis (who also directed Murphy in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III) and proved to be an even greater box office success than 48 Hrs. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop.^[1] The film was Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle, originally intended to star Sylvester Stallone (who later tweaked the script as his own starring vehicle Cobra in 1986).^[1] Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the box office and is 40th in the list of all-time total U.S. box office grosses (4th-highest amongst "R" rated films), after adjusting for inflation, as of March 2011^[update].^[15]

In 1984, Murphy appeared in Best Defense, co-starring Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences. Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy's Trading Places co-star Dan Aykroyd had originally written the character of Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters specifically for Murphy, but he was unable to commit at the time due to the Beverly Hills Cop shooting schedule. The part ultimately went to Ernie Hudson. Murphy was also offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks. By this point^[16] Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.

In 1986, Murphy starred in the supernatural comedy, The Golden Child.^[1] The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring Mel Gibson. After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy. Although The Golden Child (featuring Murphy's "I want the knife!" routine) performed well at the box office, the movie was not as critically acclaimed as 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop. The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the supernatural setting as opposed to the more "street smart" settings of Murphy's previous efforts. A year later, Murphy reprised his role of Axel Foley in the Tony Scott-directed Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box office success, grossing over $150 million. Producers reportedly wanted to turn the Beverly Hills Cop franchise into a weekly television series. Murphy declined the television offer, but was willing to do a film sequel instead.

Murphy was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.

Singing career[link]

Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by The Bus Boys, which their song "The Boys Are Back in Town" was featured in 48 Hrs. and Murphy's comedy special Eddie Murphy Delirious. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All the Time" (which was produced by Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s (although he actually started singing earlier in his career, with the songs "Boogie In Your Butt" and "Enough Is Enough", the latter being a parody of Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's 1979 song, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". They both appear on his 1982 self-titled comedy album.) "Party All the Time" was featured on Murphy's 1985 debut album How Could It Be, which included a minor follow-up R&B hit in the title track, a duet with vocalist Crystal Blake. This track was written by Rusty Hamilton and was produced by Stevie Wonder's cousin Aquil Fudge after a brief falling out and bet with Rick James. In 2004, VH-1 and Blender voted "Party All the Time" number seven among the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time." Sharam used a sample of the song for the UK #8 hit "PATT (Party All The Time)" in 2006.

Murphy recorded the album Love's Alright in the early 1990s. He performed in a music video of the single "Whatzupwitu", featuring Michael Jackson. He recorded a duet with Shabba Ranks called "I Was a King". In 1992, Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" alongside Magic Johnson and Iman.

Though uncredited, Murphy provided vocal work on SNL castmate Joe Piscopo's comedy single, "The Honeymooners Rap."^{[citation needed]} Piscopo impersonated Jackie Gleason on the single, while Murphy provided an imitation of Art Carney.

In Coming to America, he imitated Jackie Wilson when he sang "To Be Loved", but because the character he was playing had a thick accent, he had to sing it in character. In later years, Murphy performed several songs in the Shrek film franchise. In the first film, he performed a version of "I'm a Believer" in the film's final scene; in Shrek 2 he performed Ricky Martin's hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" along with co-star Antonio Banderas.

Murphy's all-time favorite singer is Elvis Presley.

Early 1990s career[link]

From 1989 until the mid 1990s, box office results and reviews for Murphy's films dropped, hitting a low point with the critically panned Beverly Hills Cop III (1994),^[17] a movie Murphy would ultimately denounce during an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio,^[1] although he did find box office success with Boomerang and Another 48 Hrs. Harlem Nights featured Murphy, who had previously been known only as a performer, as director, producer, star, and co-writer, with his brother, Charlie Murphy, as well as supporting roles for Murphy's comic idols Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor.^[1]

During this period Murphy was criticized by filmmaker Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film, despite Murphy's films (especially those he produced) often being populated with predominantly black casts (Coming To America, Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn, Life). Many black actors who would later gain wider recognition make early appearances in Murphy films such as Damon Wayans in Beverly Hills Cop, Halle Berry and Martin Lawrence in Boomerang, Samuel L. Jackson and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Coming to America, Dave Chappelle in The Nutty Professor and Chris Rock in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Although Murphy has enjoyed commercial success since Saturday Night Live, he has never attended cast reunions or anniversary specials, nor did he participate in the making of the Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (2002).

Comeback and image makeover[link]

Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with The Nutty Professor. He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like Mulan, Dr. Dolittle and its sequel, the Shrek series, Daddy Day Care, and The Haunted Mansion, along with Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. However, most of his movies meant for more adult audiences performed moderately; Metro, I Spy, and Showtime all ended to gross less than $40 million domestically, Holy Man performed poorly, grossing less than $13 million, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash is on record as one of the biggest theatrical money-losers of all time, grossing just $7 million worldwide on a reported $110 million budget. A notable exception to this run of poorly received adult-themed films was the Frank Oz comedy Bowfinger, also starring Steve Martin. The film garnered generally positive critical reviews, and grossed $98 million at the box office.

In 2006, he starred in the motion picture version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls as soul singer James "Thunder" Early. Murphy won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in that category. Several reviews for the film highlighted Murphy's performance while he received some pre-release Academy Awards buzz.^[18] Murphy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on January 23, 2007, but lost to Alan Arkin for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine. Dreamgirls was the first film distributed by Paramount Pictures to star Murphy (who once was on an exclusive contract with the studio) since Vampire in Brooklyn in 1995.

In 2007, Murphy was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[19] As a result of Viacom's acquisition of Dreamworks SKG, Paramount distributed his other 2007 releases: Norbit and Shrek the Third. He starred in the 2008 film Meet Dave and the 2009 film Imagine That for Paramount Pictures.

Murphy co-starred in Tower Heist, directed by Brett Ratner. Murphy played a thief who joins a group of hardworking men who find out they have fallen victim to a wealthy businessman's Ponzi scheme, and conspire to rob his high-rise residence. Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck also starred in the film, released on November 4, 2011.^[1][20][21]

It was reported in late 2011 that Murphy would host the 84th Academy Awards in 2012. However, he dropped out of his hosting duties on November 9, 2011, in the wake of the Brett Ratner scandal.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Eddie Murphy in Hollywood Walk of Fame

Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell (born January 5, 1968) after meeting her in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for almost two years before getting married at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City on March 18, 1993.^[23] Murphy and Mitchell had five children together: Bria L. Murphy (born November 18, 1989), Myles Mitchell (born November 7, 1992), Shayne Audra (born October 10, 1994), Zola Ivy (born December 24, 1999) and Bella Zahra (born January 29, 2002). In August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized on April 17, 2006.^[24]

He also has a child by Tamara Hood: son Christian Murphy (born on 29 November 1990).^[25]

Murphy as of 2008 resided in Long Island, New York.^[26]

Following his divorce from Mitchell, in 2006, Murphy began dating former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who became pregnant and stated that the child was Murphy's. When questioned about the pregnancy in December 2006 by RTL Boulevard, Murphy told Dutch reporter Matthijs Kleyn, "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir". Brown gave birth to a baby girl, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy's 46th birthday, April 3, 2007. On June 22, 2007, representatives for Brown announced in People that a DNA test had confirmed that Murphy was the father.^[27] Brown has stated in an interview that Murphy has not sought a relationship with Angel.^[28][29]

Murphy exchanged marriage vows with film producer Tracey Edmonds, former wife of Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, on January 1, 2008, in a private ceremony on an island off Bora Bora.^[30] On January 16, the couple released a statement saying, "After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forego having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further," and called the Bora Bora wedding a "symbolic union". The two had planned on having a legal ceremony upon their return to the U.S. but did not, and their wedding was never official.^[31]

Legal problems[link]

According to Murphy's childhood friend Harris Haith in his book, Growing Up Laughing With Eddie, long before Murphy did any writing for Coming to America, Art Buchwald had approached Paramount Pictures with the idea for a similar film. His material was rejected, but the information was retained by Paramount. They liked Buchwald's idea but did not see fit to pay him and saved it for use later down the road. Some years later, Paramount presented the idea of Coming to America to Eddie and gave him the contract. Murphy wrote a screenplay that came to light exactly as it aired on the silver screen. In 1988, Buchwald sued Murphy and Paramount Pictures, but Murphy was not found liable because Paramount had received the material.

Philanthropy[link]

Murphy has donated money to the AIDS Foundation, and cancer, education, creative arts, family/parent support, health and homeless charities. He has donated to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, various cancer charities and $100,000 to the Screen Actors' Guild's strike relief fund.^[32]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Singles[link]

Awards/nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eddie Murphy

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eddie Murphy

• Eddie Murphy at the Internet Movie Database
• Eddie Murphy at Allmusic
• Eddie Murphy on Discogs
• Maxim Rated Top SNL performer