Everyone has seen sequels of movies, some even of their favorite movies. Sometimes, they turn out to nicely continue the story beyond its first iteration. However, most of the time that is not the case.

  It tends to be obvious when a sequel of a movie is made just for the money. It pops up out of nowhere and usually has very little connection to the previous film other than having  the same characters. It doesn’t feel like a continuation of the main story and feels completely out of place.

  In recent years, that seems to be a recurring theme. Companies come out with a movie that gets enough revenue and attention, and then a sequel comes out of nowhere to try and milk more money out of it.

  A lot of the time, by that second movie, the ideas seem to run dry with the original story and new ideas have to be made. Oftentimes, those ideas make little sense and are not connected with the originals in a way to make it feel like the movies are ‘together’.

 For example, both  Frozen and Frozen 2 have stunning visuals, but the second movie doesn’t make sense as nothing that really happens in it fits with the original storyline. There wasn’t anything to hint about a second movie within the first, and it felt like it reached its conclusion, but then they came out with another movie. The general changes and additions to the storyline made it feel like a completely different movie, even the magic portrayed in the second movie has no relation to the first. It feels like they wanted to expand on the magic of their world, but it just feels like it all came out of nowhere. Even with Elsa’s magic, they expanded it to far beyond what was demonstrated in the first movie that it was hard not to think ‘where did this come from?’.

 The classic movie Jaws is guilty of a similar thing. The first and original Jaws came out and reached its conclusion. It was a satisfying end, and it felt like the movie and story was complete. But again, movies kept coming out with the same general formula over and over again. It felt not only repetitive, but it became lackluster with everyone knowing the only purpose was for money and not to honor the book or movie it came from. It was painfully obvious that the movies following the original critically acclaimed film were all attempts to make money. It was the same plot as Bruce, the name of the shark, or a new shark came and caused chaos before being killed. The quality kept falling and the story just wasn’t interesting after the first, since the main story was completed and it just felt like needless additions that made the whole franchise lackluster.

  However, there is potential to do sequels well- even if it is not in the original plan to continue it. For example, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and even The Incredibles do a decent job at continuing the story without creating a whole new plotline that heavily deviates from the original. Of course, they aren’t perfect, as new elements have to be added, but at the very least, the transition from movie to sequel feels smoother and more natural.

  These movies either answer unspoken questions, like what would Berk look like when dragons are fully integrated into their village, what happened to Po’s family and the pandas, or use the previous ending to continue the story. When something from the first movie is expanded on, like a question or specific moment, it helps bridge the two films together in a more cohesive and satisfying way. 

  When new details are added just for the sake of being added in an attempt to draw more attention to a film or make it more interesting, it doesn’t always land. It becomes very apparent that movies are made just for the sake of money when the audience gets confused and doesn’t understand why the story is happening in relation to the original plot of the first movie.

  For sequels to be effective and work well, there has to be proper connection between movies. Whether it was a small detail that was mentioned or a possible question the audience is left with, it helps to create a smooth transition between the stories with the characters. When new ideas, rules, characters, or even plot points are added last minute with a sequel it makes it feel like the two movies are completely separate from each other. Although those things are necessary as a new movie will bring a new plot, when the audience can’t make sense of the new additions and feel confused it’s done wrong and it’s very easy for said audience to tell.