10 Cloverfield Lane is no ordinary sequel. For starters, the film isn’t really a direct follow-up to found-footage monster movie Cloverfield at all, but a project that – in the words of producer J.J. Abrams – simply shares the “DNA” of its predecessor. Another reason it’s so different to the usual franchise movie? Unlike most, this sequel has arrived a whole eight years on from the original.
With gaps between sequels shortening, to the point where breaks of just two years to a year have become the norm (those YA series, like Twilight and Divergent, can churn them out in 12 months or less), two years shy of a decade is a long time.
Still, 10 Cloverfield Lane proves it’s a case of never say never for movie sequels. If the material’s right, a sequel can be greenlit five, ten, even 30 years down the line.
While returning to a franchise years and sometimes decades on has led to enormous disappointment in certain cases (The Godfather Part III, anyone?), Hollywood has also given us some great long-delayed sequels that were well worth the wait. And here, are ten of them.