Making good profits often creates a thirst for even greater profit. Perhaps, from the indefatigable thirst for enrichment, a sequel was first born, and then a prequel.
Popularly about the sequel
The sequel is rightfully considered the most ancient trick of the author, who by any means intends to develop the commercial success of the already created work. Simply put, this is a continuation of a previously unveiled story. At the beginning of the XVIII century, Daniel Defoe, inspired by the fees from the novel "Robinson Crusoe", wrote the book "Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", which, however, did not bring the writer any significant profits or fame. But it was one of the first sequels in the history of art. The Defoe example will be picked up by many writers, and later by filmmakers and creators of computer games.
The sequel to the movie has long been expected, and therefore a common place: The Godfather and Terminator, Rambo and Rocky, Batman and Spider-Man, X-Men and The Matrix etc. The sequel, as a rule, is weaker than the "source" (this was proved by Daniel Defoe), but the directors and producers know that people will go to the cinema in close ranks, although they anticipate possible disappointment.
Prequel - what kind of fruit is it?
Imagine a film whose plot has completely exhausted itself before the final credits. Suppose the protagonist irrevocably passes away from life, on a mountain of distracting spectators. But, to the delight of the filmmakers, their brainchild becomes very popular and brings decent profits. What do filmmakers do in this case? That's right - they remove the prequel. That this is the younger brother of the sequel - they know only those who are initiated into the mystery of cinema. This is the name of films (books, computer games), the duration of which precedes those events that were described in a previously created work. The author is no longer interested in the future of his heroes (for example, the gold mine there is already exhausted to the end or all the characters have already died, or the actors are hopelessly old) and he captivates the already lured viewer with the background of the heroes he loved. It often happens that she appears in a completely different genre politics. Her viewer watches in amazement: prequel - what kind of genre is this? It’s hard for him to understand.
The prequel. Start
A clear example will help explain what a prequel to a film is. One of the first successful cinematic experiments in this area can be considered the second part of the adventures of Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984) - it was a prequel to the movie Indiana Jones: In Search of the Lost Ark (1981). But Steven Spielberg, obviously, did not suspect what a prequel was: although this word appeared for the first time in the academic Oxford dictionary back in 1958, it was not yet in wide use. The word "prequel" was released by none other than George Lucas, when in the mid-90s he began work on a new trilogy of the famous Star Wars. One can only be surprised at the creative and commercial insight of Lucas, who began the first trilogy immediately from the fourth episode. The director, who promised fans of Star Wars to return to the story of Luke Skywalker 20 years after the release of the first film, fulfilled his promise, and in 1999 the first episode of the new Star Wars trilogy - the hidden threat blockbuster - appeared on the screens. Then everyone found out about the term "prequel", what kind of innovation this is.
The most popular movie prequels
The experience of George Lucas opened up new creative and commercial perspectives for filmmakers. Perhaps the most famous prequels were watched by all movie buffs: “Red Dragon” - a prequel to the dilogy “Silence of the Lambs” and “Hannibal”; “Zero Cube” - a prequel to the budget but famous “Cuba”; “Batman: The Beginning” - a prequel to the Batman saga; "X-Men: First Class" - a prequel to the trilogy about X-Men; the movie "Death Race-2", despite the name, more suitable for the sequel, is a prequel to the film "Death Race". Prologue, fresh interpretation, new vision of the source - what does it give us as spectators? Sometimes only disappointment and regret about the time spent.
Today's schoolchildren and philology students at literary competitions often perform creative tasks on the topic: "Write a sequel (prequel) to such a work." These concepts have already firmly entered our lives, and today it is difficult to find a person who has not heard about what a sequel and prequel are.