The reveal that the 2022 slasher film Pearl releasing just a few months later.
It's not all that often that filmmakers make a turnaround quick enough to provide a sequel or prequel within the very same year another film in the franchise is released, but it's happened several times before. From award-winning films to straight-to-video horror movies, several franchises have released multiple entries in the same year.
The Three Colours Trilogy: White And Red (1994)
Every entry of Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski's acclaimed Three Colours trilogy was released within short succession of one another, with Three Colours: Blue released in the latter half of 1993 and Three Colours: White and Three Colours: Red would both released in 1994.
The films, each named after the colors of the French Flag, all follow a different set of characters, though overlap occurs with both the themes on display and several characters from one film making appearances in other ones. While White received positive reviews, it was not held in as high of regard as Red, which is considered, like Blue, to be a masterpiece.
The Matrix Franchise: Reloaded And Revolutions (2003)
Before the appropriately titled its wonderful cast of characters, The Matrix franchise initially ended as a trilogy with the 2003 releases of both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
Both Matrix movies were filmed concurrently beginning in March 2001, and ending a little over a year later in August 2002. Revolutions failed to live up to the pace set by its fellow-2003 release, receiving much more negative reviews and earning roughly half of what Reloaded had earned at the box office.
Anchorman And Wake Up, Ron Burgundy (2004)
Less of a full-fledged movie and more of a loosely-connected series of deleted scenes and outtakes from the original Anchorman film, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie was still officially released as an entry into the Anchorman franchise in 2004, bundled with the original film's home-video release.
The film's story focuses on a series of robberies committed by a group known as "The Alarm Clock," a plot line initially intended for the original film before being scrapped in favor of the panda storyline. The straight-to-DVD quasi-sequel received mixed reviews from critics.
The Hellraiser Franchise: Deader And Hellworld (2005)
The long-running Hellraiser franchise has produced ten films since its original 1987 entry, with more still yet to come. Two of those ten films were both released in the year 2005, with the set of direct-to-video sequels Hellraiser: Deader and Hellraiser: Hellworld continuing the story of Pinhead and the Cenobites' destructive ways.
Neither film received a positive reception, with both ultimately regarded as some of the worst Hellraiser movies. The two films marked the final time that Doug Bradley would portray the iconic Pinhead character.
Flags Of Our Fathers And Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)
Another set of films that are not connected to one another in the traditional "sequel" sense, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are a set of films directed by Clint Eastwood, both showcasing the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War 2.
Flags of Our Fathers is an English-language film that follows the American perspective of the battle (including that of the soldiers who raised the American flag there), while Letters from Iwo Jima is a Japanese-language film released two months later following the Japanese perspective of the battle. While both films received acclaim, Letters from Iwo Jima was much more successful, being far more profitable at the box office and earning multiple Academy Award nominations.
Pulse 2: Afterlife And Pulse 3 (2008)
The sequels to the 2006 horror film Pulse (which itself was a remake of a 2001 Japanese horror film) were filmed back-to-back and ultimately released straight-to-DVD in 2008. Neither film featured returning actors from the original film, and instead followed a new set of characters.
The films were abysmally-received, with Pulse 2: Afterlife holding a 10% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and Pulse 3 holding a 16% audience score.
The Fear Street Trilogy (2021)
Based on R.L. Stine's book series of the same name, the Fear Street trilogy was a series of three slasher films released on Netflix over the course of two weeks in July 2021.
The films, each named after and set within a different time period (1994, including the phenomenal Sadie Sink.
Army Of The Dead And Army Of Thieves (2021)
Army of the Dead, and clearly saw the potential the film had to spawn a massive franchise, sowing in hints at future plot points and leaving several questions to be answered in subsequent installments.
It seems Snyder was right, as the film was a massive success for Netflix, and continued that very same year with the release of the prequel Army of Thieves, which followed Amy of the Dead ing character Ludwig Dieter (portrayed by the prequel's director Matthias Schweighöfer) and the thrilling safecracking adventure he goes on during the early days of the zombie apocalypse.
South Park: Post Covid And The Return Of Covid (2021)
The first two films in South Park's exclusive film deal with Paramount+, South Park: Post Covid and its sequel South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid leaped forty years into the future and showed the (mostly miserable) adult fates of the South Park children, as well as the fates of the now-elderly South Park adults.
Highlighting the reunion of the main characters following Kenny's death and the resurgence of the Coronavirus, the film explored what happened to the main boys after the destruction of their friendship. The films both shocked and impressed viewers with its surprising story arcs for its characters.
X And Pearl (2022)
With two films down and a third, entitled Maxxxine, still to come, the X horror films have quickly become the surprise franchise of the A24 studio. Beginning with the Ti West-directed slasher film X, which followed Mia Goth in a dual role as both the pornographic actress Maxine and the elderly Pearl hunting her and her friends in the 1970's, the franchise was then followed up with West's recently-released prequel Pearl, which again starred Goth, though this time as the young incarnation of the murderous character in 1918.
Ti West secretly shot the films back to back, surprising audiences with the trailer for Pearl as a special end-credits stinger to X. The franchise has wowed audiences in both installments, and the team of West and Goth will be reunited for a third time with the release of 1980's-set Maxxxine.
