Sequel, reboot or remake: what's the difference?

Hollywood loves familiar names. Franchises, sequels, reboots, remakes — the industry regularly recycles its successes, sometimes to the frustration of critics and sometimes to the delight of audiences. But what exactly is the difference between all these terms? And when is a "new" film actually not that new at all? A glossary of recycled cinema.

Sequel: the story continues

A sequel is the most straightforward concept: it is a follow-up film that continues the story of an earlier film. Same characters, same world, a new chapter. The Godfather Part II, Toy Story 2, Avatar: The Way of Water — all direct sequels that build on stories told before.

A variation is the prequel: a film whose story takes place before the original film, but was produced later. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set just before the original Star Wars film from 1977. The Hobbit trilogy takes place decades before The Lord of the Rings.

Then there is the midquel — a film set between two existing films — and the sidequel, which follows a parallel timeline. Hollywood has expanded this terminology further as franchises have grown more complex.

Remake: the same story, told again

A remake tells the same story as an earlier film, but reimagined — with a new cast, new direction and often for a new generation. The source material is a previous film (as opposed to an adaptation, where the source material is a book, stage play or other medium).

Disney's live-action remakes of their own animated classics are the most prominent recent examples. The Lion King (2019) is a remake of the 1994 animated film of the same name: the same story, the same songs, the same characters — but rendered in photorealistic CGI with a new cast. Beauty and the Beast (2017), Aladdin (2019) and The Little Mermaid (2023) followed the same model.

Remakes can also take great liberties with the original. Ocean's Eleven (2001) is a remake of Ocean's 11 (1960) but has almost nothing in common with the original apart from the basic concept. And The Departed (2006) is essentially a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (2002) — something many Western audiences don't realise.

Reboot: back to the beginning, differently

A reboot is perhaps the vaguest term of the three. In essence it means: we take an existing brand or franchise and start over, with a new story that stands apart from what came before. The established canon is abandoned; the universe is reset.

The most famous example is Spider-Man. Sam Raimi's trilogy (2002–2007) with Tobey Maguire was commercially and artistically successful. When that series ran into trouble, Sony chose to reboot: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) with Andrew Garfield, starting fresh with a new origin story. When that series also stalled, a second reboot followed: Tom Holland as Spider-Man in the MCU.

Ironically, all three Spider-Man actors were ultimately brought together in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) — definitively blurring the lines between reboots and sequels.

The newest term: "requels"

The film industry has popularised a new hybrid form: the "requel". These are films that are simultaneously a sequel and a reboot — they acknowledge the earlier films and even play on them (through returning cast members), while also introducing new characters as successors. Halloween (2018) ignores all the sequels after the original and picks up directly where the first film left off. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) is technically a sequel but also functions as a relaunch for a new generation.

This approach has a clear advantage: it gives nostalgic fans what they want (familiar faces, references to the original) while also attracting new audiences who have never seen the earlier films.

Is originality under threat?

A common complaint is that Hollywood no longer makes original films. It is true that the most profitable films of the past decade have been almost exclusively sequels, reboots or remakes. But there are countervailing forces too: studios like A24 are fully committed to original material. And streaming has kept the market for mid-sized, original films alive — films that would be difficult to finance in a traditional theatrical model.

The reality is more nuanced: franchise films fund the riskier original projects. Without MCU revenues, Disney might produce fewer experimental films. Sequels and reboots are not inherently inferior — they are simply different, with different expectations and different challenges.