7 Best Movie Prequels That Actually Lived Up to the Hype

For me, there are just so many films and TV series that have left me wanting more. Raise your hand if you’ve ever watched a movie and also wanted to know what happened before it? Or, been curious about a character’s life before what you just witnessed on screen? Fascinating how fiction has such a strong hold over us. I guess, because movies are limited by time, the emotion is stronger and almost universal. No wonder prequels to movies are usually a hit.

In this article, we’ve listed the best movie prequels of all time: films that take you back in the timeline of your favorite movies.

Best Movie Prequels of All Time

1. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)

A slight subversion of traditional prequels, Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is a standalone film, set in 1862, against the backdrop of the American Civil War—about a decade earlier than A Fistful of Dollars. The narrative follows three men in their quest to find a buried fortune. The plot is not connected to the original films, although the continuity between them is evident, especially in A Fistful of Dollars, such as Blondie (Clint Eastwood) in his iconic poncho that he flexes at the beginning of the original film. Leone’s film is critically acclaimed for being one of the most epic western films ever made, featuring an iconic climactic Mexican standoff scene, probably one of the best the world has ever seen.

2. The Godfather: Part II (1974)

A strikingly unique narrative, Godfather: Part II is both a prequel and a sequel. In the first film, we see an aging Vito (Marlon Brando) who hands over the reins of his expansive crime dynasty to his reluctant young son (Al Pacino). As iconic as the original film, the prequel, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II follows two timelines simultaneously: Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) descent into destruction after becoming the head of the Corleone crime family, and his father Vito Corleone’s (Robert De Niro) ascent as a powerful crime lord and the rise of the Corleone crime empire. I don’t think anybody who’s watched the original film has missed its epic prequel. I mean, how can anyone not want to know how it all came to exist, the Godfather and his empire?

3. Alien: Covenant (2017)

In the first film, Alien (1979), Ridley Scott focused on making a sci-fi horror in space, while underscoring the destructive nature of capitalism, as he centered his story on the crew of a commercial spacecraft, Nostromo, who set out to investigate a mysterious transmission from an unknown planet and were confronted by a deadly lifeform, the Xenomorph. Almost 40 years later, he returns with the tale of mankind’s first encounter with the Xenomorphs. A testament to Scott’s expertise in space horror, the prequel is as gripping as the original film and will give you nightmares for at least a couple of nights.

4. Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Imagine waking up one morning and learning that there exists a film that centers on the teenage years of the iconic gumshoe Sherlock Holmes, and you haven’t watched it! That was me a few weeks ago; not anymore! (Frankly, that feels like a literary sin.) Barry Levinson’s Young Sherlock Holmes stars Nicholas Rowe as teenage Sherlock, and reimagines Holmes and Watson (Alan Cox) as childhood friends, who together set out to solve a series of murders after Holmes is expelled from his boarding school. Widely praised for nuanced performances and historical accuracy, the film also features advanced CGI, much ahead of its time. Set against the backdrop of Victorian London, the movie is a visual treat and a must-watch for all Holmes fans. You know those films that give you next to no reason to complain? This is one such movie.

5. Monsters University (2013)

Another noteworthy movie in the list of “best prequels of all time,” Monsters University is a prequel to Pixar’s Oscar-winning Monsters Inc.. The narrative takes us back in time, when Mike and James were young adults attending college at Monsters University. While the film traces the lives of Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal) and James (voiced by John Goodman) before they began working at Monsters Inc., and the origins of their friendship, Monsters University is also a nuanced meditation on the acceptance of failure.

6. The First Purge (2018)

The Purge beautifully aligns with a woman like me who is done with this decaying society. I remember telling my friend during one of our ranting sessions, how I wish that there was one day in the year when killing someone wouldn’t be a punishable offense (I have my own enemy list like Sheldon Cooper; don’t pretend like you don’t!). That’s when she recommended The Purge to me. I watched the movie and changed my mind—it made me see right through the loophole of my naive plan.

The original film revolved around a single day of the year in near-future America, which is officially designated as the day of crime: a day when you’re completely off the hook from following the law. This unique concept and James DeMonaco’s brilliant execution have paved the way for one of the most loved crime thriller franchises. While the rest of the films revolve around the yearly “purge” day, The First Purge encapsulates how it all began, depicting the true exploitative and destructive nature of power, as the powerful people of the society leverage the legal anomaly against minorities and the disenfranchised.

7. Pearl (2022)

An intense retro slasher set in the 1970s, Ti West’s X centers on a porn production that is attacked by an elderly woman, Maxine Minx, aka. Pearl. Named after the antagonist of the original film, the prequel, Pearl, takes us back in time, during the First World War, to follow a young Pearl (Mia Goth), who’s married to a young man who’s away at war. As she is stuck with her puritanical mother in the middle of a global crisis, Pearl resorts to her fatal impulses to pursue stardom. Pearl is critically acclaimed for its period-accurate production design and visual language, with Goth’s portrayal of Pearl as one of the biggest highlights of the film.

Did we miss any? Let us know which of these films you’ve watched already!