You may have heard that a certain forgetful fish is swimming back onto our screens next year...
Yes, 2016 sees the release of Finding Nemo sequel Finding Dory, and before you start getting worried, let us remind you of two important things. Firstly, animation wizards Pixar got their mojo back this year with the astonishing, tear-jerking Inside Out, which bodes very well for their new aquatic adventure.
And, more importantly, there have been several movie sequels that have easily surpassed their predecessors. So on that note, we've picked some of our favourites...
1) The Godfather: Part II
The year: 1974
The lowdown: The Godfather is one of the most successful, influential and memorable movies of all time, introducing us to the various members of the Corleone crime family.
But director Francis Ford Coppola's sprawling sequel is even better, consolidating the original's themes by jumping back and forward in time between the younger incarnation of Marlon Brando's character Vito Corleone (here played by Robert De Niro) and his increasingly scheming, ruthless son Michael (Al Pacino). It's an utterly compelling look at the criminal infestation of America across the centuries. Don't blame us though if you have a hankering for pasta after watching it.
2) The Empire Strikes Back
The year: 1980
The lowdown: Sure, 1977's A New Hope revolutionised sci-fi and fantasy movies and singlehandedly created a cultural phenomenon that continues this December with The Force Awakens. But Empire is arguably the superior movie: darker, more emotional, better acted and with some genuinely shocking twists that push our favourite characters in new directions. See the classic Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader connection for example, or Harrison Ford's hero Han Solo unbelievably being encased in carbonite.
The film also introduced us to several new faces, among them wizened Jedi master Yoda and Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian. It also unleashed the imposing strains of John Williams' 'Imperial March' on the world for the first time.
3) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The year: 1982
The lowdown: 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the much-vaunted movie debut of Kirk, Spock and the gang but it turned away many audiences with its slow pace, lack of humour and absence of memorable set-pieces.
Enter director Nicholas Meyer for the sequel who came up with possibly the best movie in the franchise, filled with spectacular space battles, a sense of fun and a genuine sense of personal conflict between Kirk (William Shatner) and vengeful villain Khan (Ricardo Montalban). And the late James Horner's rollicking score is just the icing on the cake.
4) Terminator II: Judgment Day
The year: 1991
The lowdown: Essentially a bigger-budget take on the storyline of the iconic original 1984 Terminator, Judgment Day nails its colours to the mast right from the off: director James Cameron's movie is a sequel that aims to blow audiences to the back of the theatre with its extraordinary special effects, action sequences and sense of scale.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as the unstoppable T-800 cyborg but, in a neat twist, is no longer the baddie but the goodie, protecting young John Connor (Edward Furlong) and his mother Sarah (Linda Hamilton) from the sleek, sinister T-1000 (an unforgettable Robert Patrick). Just one glimpse at those revolutionary liquid metal effects confirms that this is a bigger, bolder, more badass experience than what we saw before.
5) X2: X-Men United
The year: 2003
The lowdown: Our current crop of Marvel superhero spectaculars can almost certainly be traced back to the unexpected success of Bryan Singer's first X-Men movie back in 2000. Even so, it was 2003's X2 that showed us what our mutant ensemble could really do.
Once again centred around Hugh Jackman's terrifically feral Wolverine, with thespian support from Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Xavier and Magneto respectively, the movie is more involving and exciting in every way, featuring better effects and a more intriguing look at the central human-mutant conflict. The scene where young Ice-Man (Shawn Ashmore) confronts his estranged family about his mutant powers manages to be both funny, poignant and alarming all at the same time. And this sequel is crammed with plenty of like-minded moments.
6) Spider-Man 2
The year: 2004
The lowdown: Bright, breezy and bouncy Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie may be. But it can't compete with the sheer energy, scares and set-pieces of the superb follow-up, one that elaborates on Peter Parker's (Tobey Maguire) superhero identity crisis in a host of inventive and entertaining ways. Not only is he struggling with love interest Mary Jane (Fargo's Kirsten Dunst); he also has to contend with a genuinely fearsome villain in the form of Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), whose tentacle-led hospital massacre might just be the most memorable and terrifying Spider-Man movie scene to date.
7) Toy Story 3
The year: 2010
The lowdown: Well, we couldn't not include a Pixar movie, could we? The second sequel to their gamechanging Toy Story is quite simply one of the best animated movies ever made, boasting a formidable impact as the adventures of Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the gang come to the sort of emotional head that will have grown adults weeping in their chairs. It's also hilariously funny, as the Spanish Buzz scene demonstrates. In terms of building on the success of its predecessors, Toy Story 3 is pretty munch unsurpassed, brilliant both as a sequel and a threequel. Toy Story 4 arrives on July 14th 2017.
Think that Finding Dory has got a chance of surpassing Finding Nemo? Think we've missed out some of your favourite sequels like Aliens? Then tweet us @Cineworld with your thoughts.
Finding Dory is due for release on 29th July 2016.
