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The term prequel has gotten a bad rap over the years. It often gets lumped in with sequel when people talk about the lack of creativity in Hollywood, but at least with sequels, you're getting a brand new story that's hopefully advancing the main character's journey in some way. By its very definition, a prequel has to occur prior to the events of the original film. That means we already know where most of the characters have to end up, so there can't be too many surprises.
And yet, there are still plenty of prequels out there that show what can be done with this type of story. Sometimes knowing what happens at the end of the story is a benefit rather than a setback. There are alsomovies you probably had no idea were prequelsbecause they only subtly connect with the original work.
To determine the best prequel movies of all time, we examined critical scores and overall audience response. These are the prequels that break the mold and show how storytellers shouldn't feel limited just because their movie has a natural stopping point.
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15. Pearl
Cast: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright
Director: Ti West
Rating: R
Runtime: 102 minutes
Where to watch: YouTube, Amazon Prime Video
"Pearl" started out as a joke between director Ti West and star Mia Goth, but it became one of the most interesting and horrifying prequels ever made. It was filmed at the same time as "X," a fairly straightforward slasher flick about a group of people shooting a pornographic film at a farm where they slowly get picked off one by one by the elderly and mad Pearl (Goth). This character would receive a backstory in the form of "Pearl," which explains her sexual repression and how killing people has always been part of her nature.
There's still ample blood for the gore lovers out there, but "Pearl" is more interesting in psychological than the previous "X." Goth is sensational in the titular role where one moment you feel bad for her for being denied so much in the world, but then you see her slay a friend viciously and remember she's the villain later. "Pearl" is a technicolor nightmare, and there's an honest argument to be made that Goth should've gotten some awards season attention for how deranged she gets.
14. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer
Director: Francis Lawrence
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 157 minutes
Where to watch: Peacock
Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) was the villain in "The Hunter Games" trilogy of books (or quartet of films). But are monsters born or made? That's what "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" gets to the heart of, as we see Snow (Tom Blyth) as a young man trying to make a name for himself in the 10th annual Hunger Games. He's instructed to mentor District 12's Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) despite her low chances of survival, and he comes to fall in love with her that becomes indistinguishable from possessiveness.
Looper was highly complimentary to "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" in the review, comparing it to "Andor" in how it's a prequel that excels due to showcasing how rebellions take a long time to bear any fruit. It doesn't matter that we know Snow wins at the end, because the movie adds depth to his connection to Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), another District 12 girl who captured his attention.
13. Bumblebee
Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Pamela Adlon
Director: Travis Knight
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 114 minutes
Where to watch: Paramount+
Whenranking every "Transformers" movie, there's really no contest as to which one is the best. The Michael Bay films can be entertaining, but they usually get bogged down in their own excess. "Bumblebee" takes the titular Autobot and hones in on an earlier adventure he had with a young girl, Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld). She's still grieving over her father's death but forges a powerful bond with the Transformer, offering a classic '80s throwback adventure where a teen teams up with an extraterrestrial to find peace and save everyone she knows.
"Bumblebee" lacks the kind of grand spectacle the live-action "Transformers" films became known for, but the action we do get is a lot cleaner. The designs are vastly improved over Bay's versions, and you can actually tell what's going on when two giant robots are fighting one another. And the human characters feel fleshed out rather than merely existing to react to the nonsense exposition being thrown at them.
12. Saw X
Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund
Director: Kevin Greutert
Rating: R
Runtime: 118 minutes
Where to watch: Peacock
By the tenth film in a franchise, you'd expect it to start losing steam. But "Saw X" proved it was still possible to come up with inventive kills, as we get a prequel film that brings back the original Jigsaw, John Kramer (Tobin Bell). He tries to cure his cancer through experimental therapy only to discover it was all a scam, so he captures everyone involved and sets up elaborate traps to torture and ultimately kill every last one of them.
It's great to see Kramer back in the saddle after he died all the way back in "Saw III." Others assumed his mission, but he was always the best. "Saw X" also explicitly makes Kramer the protagonist rather than a villain lurking in the shadows while we mostly follow the people trying to escape. We get more of Kramer's motivation, and even though his actions are horrific, we feel like we have a better understanding of what makes him tick through this prequel.
11. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Lily James, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Ol Parker
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 114 minutes
Where to watch:Peacock
"Mamma Mia!" had the stage musical to go off of, but despite being a hit, where was a sequel to go? The answer was to make the follow-up — "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" — both a sequel and prequel that follows Donna (Meryl Streep) in events after the original film but also flashbacks to her youth, with Lily James playing a younger Donna. We see first-hand what caused all the confusion as young Donna meets the three men who could've been Sophie's (Amanda Seyfried) father.
"Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" is a far more creatively risky film than its predecessor, jumping from the present to the past, but viewers never feel lost. It still has all of the fun musical numbers one would expect, but with a kinetic pacing and editing style to ensure there's never a dull moment.
10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Cast: Harrison Ford, Ke Huy Quan, Kate Capshaw
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rating: PG
Runtime: 118 minutes
Where to watch: Disney+, Paramount+
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" firmly cemented itself as one of thebest adventure films of all time. Few movies could ever surpass it, so there were many expectations going into "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," which is still a very fun action-adventure flick that takes Indy (Harrison Ford) in a different direction.
The real reason "Temple of Doom" is a prequel instead of a sequel, set a year prior to "Raiders," is that director Steven Spielberg wanted to focus on a different antagonist rather than Nazis. The mystical plot sees Indy trying to recover a sacred artifact from a murderous cult, encountering ritualistic sacrifices and voodoo magic along the way. It's a far darker movie than its predecessor, but it still has plenty of great action set pieces, like the mine cart sequence. Spielberg got a chance to make a pulpy throwback adventure, taking some wild swings one can only make when they've fully mastered their craft. Certain elements, like various Indian stereotypes, haven't aged well, but for many, "Temple of Doom" is a nostalgic thrill ride.
9. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn
Director: Gareth Edwards
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 134 minutes
Where to watch:Disney+
For decades, "Star Wars" fans wondered why there was such a clear weakness within the Death Star where someone could fire into a single hole and blow the entire structure up. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" fills in the blanks, depicting the heroic sacrifices that occurred for the team to learn of this weakness and get it into the hands of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher).
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"Rogue One" really puts the "Wars" in "Star Wars." It's a far grittier film than what we had seen out of the cinematic franchise thus far. And all connections to the previous films, particularly the few appearances from Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), help flesh out this massive galaxy. In fact, "Rogue One" has only gotten better over the years thanks to the addition of the Disney+ series "Andor," which shows what Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) was up to prior to the film's events. The show plus this film make for a compelling story of rebellion and the need for sacrifice during trying times.
8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Cast: James Franco, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 105 minutes
Where to watch: Hulu
The original"Planet of the Apes" endswith the reveal that we had been on Earth this whole time rather than another planet. It's just at some point humanity practically went extinct while hyper-intelligent apes took over. It was only natural that at some point the studio would want to show how exactly this world began, but no one probably expected the origin to be as good as "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."
The film shows how the first enhanced ape, Caesar (Andy Serkis), rose up against his oppressors around the same time a deadly virus begins spreading around the globe. A film about a pandemic certainly hits different in a post-COVID world, but it's a good reminder of how humans are often their own worst enemy. It wasn't just apes overthrowing us that did us in but our own hubris. It's a worthwhile theme to keep in mind all these years later.
7. The First Omen
Cast: Nell Tiger Free, Ralph Ineson, Bill Nighy
Director: Arkasha Stevenson
Rating: R
Runtime: 119 minutes
Where to watch:Hulu
"The Omen" is a highly influential horror film, but none of its sequels or the 2006 remake could live up to its legacy. That is until 2024's "The First Omen" came along and gave us the story before Damien. We follow novice nun Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) who's working at an orphanage before she can become a nun proper, only to discover she's at the heart of a horrific conspiracy to bring forth the antichrist.
"The First Omen" excels where all of the other previous entries in the "Omen" franchise fell short — it's a film that feels deeply evil. There's this constant sense of dread throughout the film that gets punctuated every so often with unsettling imagery. In fact,"The First Omen" almost gave Disney its first ever NC-17 rating. That didn't happen, but there's still plenty here that may make you feel a bit queasy, which for horror fans is a high honor.
6. Prey
Cast: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Rating: R
Runtime: 99 minutes
Where to watch:Hulu
The first "Predator" movie is a down-and-dirty action flick. There's an alien hunter taking out commandos, and it's ultimately Dutch's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) wits that save his life at the end. Future installments would get lost in the weeds a bit deviating from this formula, but "Prey" took things back to the basics.
Set in the 18th century, "Prey" sees Naru (Amber Midthunder) wanting to prove she can be a hunter like all of the men in her tribe, and unfortunately, that means going head-to-head with a Predator. "Prey" does everything a good "Predator" movie should. It has a compelling protagonist, features ample bloodshed, and showcases how pure muscle isn't everything. "Prey" was also a watershed moment in indigenous representation in such a mainstream franchise, and it blew the doors open for additional "Predator" films to branch out even more, like "Predator: Killer of Killers" being an anthology film picking up with other Yautja encounters on Earth throughout history.
5. X-Men: First Class
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 132 minutes
If you ignore howit makes the entire "X-Men" timeline fairly convoluted, "X-Men: First Class" was a breath of fresh air the superhero franchise desperately needed. It's mostly set in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis as Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) are still trying to find mutants' place in the world. They recruit a fresh batch of mutants to join their cause to prevent the Hellfire Club from starting a nuclear war.
The action's great, but what sets "First Class" apart is how it finally hones in on the friendship and ideological divide between Charles and Erik. McAvoy and Fassbender's performances show how these two could've easily wound up fighting on the same side, but Erik's backstory was always going to shade his view of the world differently. It's a fresh take on the "X-Men" mythos, and we only wish the rest of the prequel films had an equal emphasis on real-world events like this one.
4. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Cast: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Kyle MacLachlan
Director: David Lynch
Rating: R
Runtime: 134 minutes
Where to watch: HBO Max
"Twin Peaks" was a genuine mind-bender viewers had to watch carefully to unravel. That being said, it's one of themost rewatchable TV series of all timefor the sole reason that you need multiple watches to figure out what's going on. Still, the show was a hit for a little while, at least until its cancelation, but even then, there was more story to tell with the prequel film, "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me."
The TV series kicks off with the murder investigation of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), and "Fire Walk With Me" takes us through Laura's final days. While one could view Laura's death in "Twin Peaks" as a mere plot device (or worse, fridging a female character), the movie fleshes her out into a three-dimensional character. Like the series, it may take several watches to fully appreciate what the movie's doing, but one thing you understand on first watch is that Lee's delivering one of the most interesting film performances of the 1990s.
3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke
Director: George Miller
Rating: R
Runtime: 148 minutes
Where to watch:HBO Max
"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" bombed at the box office, and we'll never forgive audiences for allowing that to happen. "Mad Max: Fury Road" remains one of the most inventive action films of its era, and "Furiosa" doubles down on that idea while providing a real complex character within Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy). Over the course of 15 years, we witness how Furiosa attained the position of Imperator and got revenge on Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), who kidnapped her all those years ago.
Taylor-Joy brings a raw intensity to Furiosa while Hemsworth seems to be having the time of his life hamming it up as Dementus. He's one of the most fun villains of the 21st century, and rest assured, "Furiosa" has all of director George Miller's signature action with actual stunt work taking place rather than an over-reliance on CGI. It didn't make as much of a splash as "Fury Road," but its more character-driven story makes it a worthwhile addition to "Mad Max" canon.
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
Director: Sergio Leone
Rating: R
Runtime: 174 minutes
Where to watch: AMC+
Sergio Leone created an unofficial trilogy of sorts with "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More," and finally, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," the last of which is technically a prequel to the first two. It's set during the American Civil War while the other two are set in later years, but they each feature Clint Eastwood as a mysterious figure, although there's not much in the way of plot continuity connecting all three.
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is one of the most important Westerns one can watch. By the mid-1960s when it came out, Westerns were on something of a decline, but this film stood out by picking apart conventions people affiliated Westerns with. There were no longer good guys and bad guys. Despite "good" and "bad" being in the title, the movie dabbles in morally gray territory. It's a revisionist Western that altered what filmmakers could do in this sandbox, and it remains a great watch to this day.
1. The Godfather Part II
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Rating: R
Runtime: 200 minutes
Where to watch: Paramount+
"The Godfather" stands as one of the greatest films of all time. Making both a prequel, which also happens to be a sequel, would be a massive undertaking, like trying to follow up "Citizen Kane." Yet Francis Ford Coppola manages to find the perfect complementary story to the first one with "The Godfather Part II."
There are two tales running parallel to one another here. First, you have the prequel story of a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) amassing his empire while his son, Michael (Al Pacino), loses his soul in the modern day. It's an all-American story about power and the paranoia that comes from the fear of losing that power. It's also a masterwork to behold visually, with cinematographer Gordon Willis bringing out such rich colors and shadows. It's visual storytelling at its finest, and it remains the sequel and prequel all others aspire to be.
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Read theoriginal article on Looper.