The 20 best movie prequels

Hey, let’s start with a good one. In fact, many consider Sergio Leone’s film one of the best Westerns ever. While this movie concludes his “Dollars Trilogy,” the story of Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name begins here. It’s an epic, sweeping film with an excellent turn by Eli Wallach as Tuco.

Did we need an origin story for Cruella de Vil? Not necessarily, and there was plenty of skepticism about it. In the end, though, the Emma Stone-starring movie turned out better than a lot of people expected. It’s a little more ambitious and goofier than you might think, even if it ultimately it’s making a hero, or anti-hero, out of a woman who was previously known only for wanting to make a coat out of puppy fur.

The “Planet of the Apes” series is pretty insane. They kind of painted themselves into a corner when the second film ended with the planet being blown up by an atomic bomb. The solution? Prequels, of course! In fact, they made three of them, starting with “Escape from the Planet of the Apes.”

Even people who don’t like the “Transformers” series, and there are many detractors, say that “Bumblebee” turned out pretty good. Maybe it’s because Michael Bay didn’t direct? Fortunately for our purposes, “Bumblebee” is also a prequel, meaning it’s the only one of the “Transformers” movies we had to consider for this list.

“The Wizard of Oz” is an iconic movie. It also came out way back in 1939. Many years later, they decided to make a prequel, one that tells the story of the man who would come to be known as the “Wizard of Oz.” This is a movie that really leans into the whole prequel thing, doing a lot of origin story-type stuff for Oz and its denizens.

“The Godfather Part II” is only half-prequel, but we’re still counting it. In addition to continuing the story of Michael Corleone, we go back to the past to see the rise of Vito Corleone. Robert De Niro won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing Vito, and the movie won “Best Picture” just like its predecessor.

Look, when you think “prequels” you probably think of the “Star Wars” prequels. To many, they popularized the phrase. Also, they aren’t good movies. The third and final one, though, is OK. That’s enough to get “Revenge of the Sith” on the list.

George Lucas sold the rights to “Star Wars” and many years later they decided to make new films. This includes a couple of prequels as well. Fortunately, they turned out better than Lucas’ movies. “Rogue One” is a really good film that takes place right before the action of “Star Wars.” It redeemed the idea of a prequel in the series.

After the incredible success of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford went back to the Indiana Jones well. Instead of fighting with Nazis again, they decided to go travel a bit further back in time to an earlier Indiana Jones adventure. “Temple of Doom” is a darker movie, and also perhaps not an entirely accurate depiction of the Indiana subcontinent. In fact, “Temple of Doom” is one of the progenitors of the PG-13 rating.

After four Alien movies were made with different directors, Ridley Scott – the director of “Alien” – returned to the series for a prequel. That movie was “Prometheus.” It’s…polarizing. Scott then directed another prequel to his classic horror film, “Alien: Covenant,” and that one works a bit better.

John Carpenter’s “The Thing” is a remake of a ‘50s film. It was successful enough that they decided to tell the story again. To make the 2011 version stand out, though, they made it both a remake and a prequel. This was a smart idea, as it allowed this version of “The Thing” to feel fresh.

The first significant look at Wonder Woman we got to see was in “Justice League.” After that, Princess Diana got her own film. While “Justice League” is set in the present, “Wonder Woman” is set back in World War I. A lot of people hated “Justice League,” but many of those naysayers enjoyed “Wonder Woman.”

The first X-Men trilogy was built around Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Ian McKellan as Magneto. Oh, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. After that series ran its course, they decided to reboot things and send it to the past. “X-Men: First Class” goes back to the beginning of the founding of the X-Men, with James McAvoy as Professor X and Michael Fassbender as Magneto. That movie’s sequel, “Days of Future Past,” combined the worlds of the two series.

If nothing else, “The Scorpion King” is a piece of movie history. How can a prequel to “The Mummy” make such a claim. Because the movie is the first starring role for a guy who was then billed as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It’s a middling action film, but it gave Johnson his start.

Pixar has made many fine films, including several sequels at this point. To date, though, Pixar has only made one prequel. That’s “Monsters University,” which follows the characters from “Monsters, Inc.” in their college days.

“Puss in Boots” is like the “Bumblebee” of the “Shrek” universe. Puss in the Boots, the character, debuted in “Shrek 2” and became a breakout star. This led to him getting a spinoff movie, and that film doubled as a prequel as well.

OK, so “Fire Walk with Me” is a prequel to a TV show, but it’s a movie itself, so it counts here. David Lynch’s TV show was all about mood and atmosphere, but not everybody liked the lack of narrative detail. Lynch’s film filled in some of the gaps, but on the flip side that alienated some of the fans of the show who didn’t like the narrative of the movie.

Look, the timeline of the “Fast and Furious” movies is a mess. Also, characters come back from the dead all the time. Basically, after they made the third movie – “Tokyo Drift” – they decided to make a few movies that were a prequel to that movie. Many consider “Fast Five” the best movie from the series, so we had to go with that one here.

The “Underworld” franchise is not high art, but it’s a fun, goofy sci-fi series. Want to watch vampires fight werewolves? Want to watch Michael Sheen ham it up to the highest degree? Then check out “Underworld.” In the third film in the series, they decided to tack a trip to the past to tell us about, well, the rise of the Lycans. Sheen seems to be having a ball.

We’re outside the world of the TV show here. “Sponge on the Run” is the third film based on the iconic Nickelodeon show, but it’s set prior to the second film in the series, “Sponge Out of Water.” Also, “Sponge on the Run” was one of the first original movies on the Paramount+ streaming service, so there’s that.