10 Movies That Were Secretly Sequels

Now that everything is either a remake or a reboot or both, it almost seems like a given that any movie out there is probably part of or the beginning of some interconnected cinematic universe. There are plenty of movies, of course, for which this isn’t true, but nowadays it’s almost natural to assume that everything is part of some franchise, either pre-existing or upcoming, and, if not, you’ll always find a fan theory that, however loosely, connects something to something else.

If franchises are a guarantee, sometimes it’s more fun to keep that aspect of your new movie a secret up until the last second—if that’s even possible. Yes, if you can believe it, there are movies out there that are secretly or not-so-secretly connected to other movies or movie series that managed to keep that aspect under wraps until release day, or even well afterward. Audiences were thrilled, audiences were shocked, and very few ever saw it coming.

These are the movies whose franchise connections are slim at best, or even, for legal purposes, “unofficial.” These are the movies whose big cinematic universe reveals came at the last minute, in the last scene, or aren’t even alluded to at all aside from a couple Easter eggs for eagle-eyed viewers. In more than a few cases, the behind-the-scenes showbiz politics are more interesting than the connections themselves. Sometimes, the franchise or secret sequel reveal was exciting, sometimes it was a disappointment, but it was always a surprise. Remember those??

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