The release of Top Gun: Maverick this month comes nearly exactly 36 years after the original Top Gun was released in theaters back in 1986. So far, it's gotten incredibly positive reviews from critics, although audiences won't be able to see it for themselves until May 27.
Top Gun: Maverick is far from alone in terms of releasing long after its original film. With its long gap from Top Gun and the acclaim it's already received, it begs the question: what are the best second films in a franchise released at least a decade after the first?
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - 6.2
Gordon Gekko's "greed is good" speech is one of the most recognizable movie quotes of all time, and Oliver Stone's Wall Street as a whole encapsulates the 1980s financial sector mindset just as the 1987 stock market crash hit, which, while coincidental (it happened only two months before the film released), made Wall Street even more relevant.
There was no better time to make a sequel than the 2008 recession, it seemed, which yielded Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010. Though the sequel did not live up to its predecessor, IMDb raters still consider it one of the best long-awaited sequels.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again - 6.6
Rarely does a film outdo the original when that first film was as critically disliked as 2008's Mamma Mia! was. Based on the musical centered around songs by ABBA, critics found plenty to pan about the film, especially Pierce Brosnan's singing ability.
Even for IMDb raters, the sequel was a better outing, with Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again netting a 6.6 in comparison to the original's 6.4. It also doesn't hurt that the film is one of Cher's best movies, as the iconic singer definitely adds a lot to the movie.
Mary Poppins Returns - 6.7
Disney has gotten plenty of flak for their CGI-centric remakes of their animated classics, with many finding it a cynical cash grab; considering The Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast all crossed the billion-dollar mark, the evidence is in that opinion's favor.
But bringing back the Mary Poppins character for Mary Poppins Returns, 54 years after the original, seemed to hit audiences differently, perhaps because it was a sequel rather than a remake. The film doesn't outdo Mary Poppins, but it does respect what the original did, and there's some warranted appreciation for that.
Tron: Legacy - 6.8
Tron: Legacy announces its intent in its subtitle, to build off of the legacy of the first film while dealing with the in-universe legacy of Tron's main character. Fittingly enough, it's one of Reddit's favorite legacy sequels.
Following the story of the original main character Kevin Flynn's son in Tron, the sequel performed okay commercially but received mixed reviews upon release. It has since gained a cult following like the original, as well as renewed appreciation from fans.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - 6.9
Although the first Jumanji film wasn't a pop-culture phenomenon, it did feature a notable performance by Robin Williams and was remembered enough for Sony to produce a sequel. Whereas the original involves a fictional board game, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle involves a fictional video game.
What makes the sequel so enjoyable is the fact that the main cast has to play against type, since they're playing avatars for people from the real world who have been drawn into the game. It was popular enough to create a franchise.
The Color of Money - 7.0
What's funny is that while Tom Cruise plays the legacy character to the newbies for Top Gun: Maverick, he himself was the newbie in The Color of Money, a 1986 sequel to 1961's The Hustler, with Paul Newman reprising his role.
The great thing about the film, however, is the fact that it can stand on its own, without viewers needing to watch the first one. It's a young Tom Cruise acting across the legend Paul Newman. It acts as a fascinating mirror to Top Gun: Maverick, as The Color of Money came out the same year the first Top Gun did.
Clerks II - 7.3
The original Clerks film from 1994 established Kevin Smith's directing style, and helped him go on to not only direct bigger films, but also be involved in the worlds of comics and TV.
The sequel, Clerks II, released in 2006 and was somewhat positively received, although now it's been mostly forgotten by the movie-going public. For a film released 12 years after the original, and directed by the same visionary behind the original, it's a pretty good result. Definitely worth a watch for Kevin Smith fans.
Finding Dory - 7.3
Pixar has never been shy about taking time to consider whether a sequel is the right call; aside from its flagship Toy Story, which received its sequel, Toy Story 2, only four years later, no Pixar film received a second outing until 2011's Cars 2.
As Finding Nemo comes from Pixar's golden age, a sequel of any kind was highly-anticipated, and 2016's Finding Dory crossed a billion dollars thanks to that. The film manages to find a heartfelt center with Dory's memory loss and how it relates to her and her parents, which fits right at home with Finding Nemo's themes.
Incredibles 2 - 7.6
Only two years after Finding Dory, however, Pixar managed to outdo themselves with the long-anticipated sequel to The Incredibles. The first film was released at a time before the superhero boom, but in some ways provides a better Fantastic Four movie than audiences have gotten directly.
Incredibles 2 follows directly from the tease at the end of the first film, and takes a Watchmen-like approach to questioning the role of the superhero in society. It's definitely one of Pixar's best sequels, and has the studio's trademark all-ages appeal.
Blade Runner 2049 - 8.0
Coming 35 years after Blade Runner, the sequel Blade Runner 2049 was helmed by the visionary director Denis Villeneuve, who proved his sci-fi chops with this and Arrival; no surprise he was granted the keys to Dune.
The only disappointment about Blade Runner 2049 is its poor performance at the box office, because it's easily one of the best films of 2017, and one of the best sci-fi movies of the 2010s. Even if the Blade Runner franchise is cursed to never earn its rightful box-office success, it's at least produced two cinematic masterpieces.