Welcome to IndieWire’s Sequels Week

IndieWire readers know the drill by now: in the dog days of August, when the full flush of movie-going summer has passed and the fall festival is still on the horizon, we dedicate a full week to a disconcertingly large pocket of film history that’s mostly untethered to news cycles or trending stories. The good, nerdy stuff. We launched with ’90s Week in 2022, went back in time with ’80s Week in 2023, naturally did the obvious thing in 2024 by jumping forward to focus on the aughts, and then finally picked up with ‘70s Week last year. In 2026, we’re zagging a bit. (’60s Week? We’ll think about it!) This year: Sequels Week. So much for the “not timely” bent we’ve kept up these past few years, because goodness knows, sequels (and prequels and legacy-quels, oh my!) remain a fixture of Hollywood movie-making and beyond. But while going back to the ol’ well for yet another story doesn’t always guarantee quality, there’s no better way to foster conversation about the movies we love and what makes them so good. If that can be duplicated, replicated, and even improved upon, all the better, and all the more worth celebrating and examining. Next year: “Sequels Week 2, The Search for More Money.” (We’re kidding. Or are we?) Below, you’ll get a preview of all the goodies Sequels Weeks has to offer, which will update with links to our stories as they go live over the course of the week. In the spirit of the sequel, why not read each piece twice? Monday, August 10 The 100 Greatest Sequels of All Time, by IndieWire Staff and Contributors A Taxonomy of Movie Sequel Terms, by Kate Erbland Do Sequels Really Drive the Box Office?, by Brian Welk Tuesday, August 11 On “The Color of Money,” by Jim Hemphill The History of Unofficial Sequels, by Katie Rife On “Everybody Wants Some!!,” by Vikram Murthi Wednesday, August 12 The Best Straight-to-Video Sequels of All Time, by Jim Hemphill On Legacy Sequels, by Vadim Rizov On “Oslo, August 31st,” by Sophie Monks Kaufman On Disney Video Sequels, by Wilson Chapman Thursday, August 13 The 10 Best Anime Movie Sequels Ever Made, by Kambole Campbell Why “Terrifer 2” Is the Defining Horror Sequel of the Century, by Sam Bodrojan On Prequels, by Sarah Shachat On Wenn Daramas’ “Ang Tanging Ina”, by Lé Beltar Friday, August 14 On “The Godfather II,” by Chris O’Falt On “Airplane II,” by Mike Ryan 10 Sequels We’d Like to See, by David Ehrlich