I was wondering, who first had the idea to follow up a successful film with a second part? I do not mean a series or a trilogy like "The Godfather", but a film being simply weaker copy of the first version. In the 1940s, nobody would have proposed to make "Casablanca 2: Rick does it again" just because part 1 was such a hit. yet by the 1980s it was commonplace.
Off the top of my head, the earliest occurrence I can think of is "Jaws 2" from 1978. Can anybody think of an earlier one?

1916

"The Fall of a Nation" was a sequel to "Birth of a Nation."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006664/?fr=...bT0x;fc=1;ft=20

Exorcist II was in 1977.

I did do a search to see what the first sequel ever was, and it was 1916's "Fall of a Nation". It was a follow up to 1915's "Birth of a Nation". Not sure that qualifies as what you are talking about, as it's kind of a continuation of the first one, I would think.

Thanks, nice work, it was what I was looking for, since

Quote:

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It is a sequel to the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation directed by D. W. Griffith which Dixon Jr co-wrote and an attempt in cash in on the success of the first film

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(from wikipedia, including errors)

Quite surprising, actually.
According to wiki, "The Golem and the Dancing Girl" from 1917 is the first horror sequel.
Good trivia that.

Didn't Shakespear do a sequel owing to royal demand for more Falstaff?

Sequels in literature would of course precede sequels in movies. You might even try and find sequels in classical music or in art (Rafael's madonna's come into mind).