Sequel Gap / Animated Films

Disney

• A number of Disney Animated Canon Direct to Video examples count, with some being released decades after the originals. Disney's sequels trend dates from Aladdin: The Return of Jafar and its huge profits compared to the cheap cost of production. From then on, they decided to create Direct to Video sequels even for films released a long time ago, for better and for worse.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002) — 6 years; the second film was completed in 2000, but it sat on The Shelf of Movie Languishment for two years.
  • Tarzan (1999) and Tarzan II (2005) — 6 years.
  • Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) — 6 years.
  • Mulan (1998) and Mulan II (2005) — 7 years.
  • The Lion King (1994) and its Interquel The Lion King 1 ½ (2004) — 10 years, though the proper sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) came out in between, which still had a gap of 6 years between it and 1½. After a void of 11 years in the The Lion King franchise following the release of The Lion King 1 ½ (2004), The Lion Guard aired in 2015, standing as a midquel series of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) — 17 years.
  • The Little Mermaid (1989) and The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) — 11 years. Return to the Sea was then followed by The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008) — 8 years.
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and Pooh's Grand Adventure (1997) — 20 years. That was also later followed with Winnie the Pooh (2011) — 14 years (34 years for the gap between the first and the third films, as they are in the Disney Animated Canon).
  • The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006) — 25 years.
  • 101 Dalmatians (1961) and 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003) — 42 years.
  • Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001) — 46 years.
  • Cinderella (1950) and Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) — 52 years.
  • Bambi (1942) and Bambi II (2006) — 64 years, currently the record holder for the longest gap between films of a series.
• Theatrical ones have also done this.
  • Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019) — 6 years.
    • Frozen II (2019) and "Frozen III'' (2026) — 7 years.
  • Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) — 6 years.
  • Moana (2016) and Moana 2 (2024) — 8 years.
  • Zootopia (2016) and Zootopia 2 (2025) — 9 years.
  • The Rescuers (1977) and The Rescuers Down Under (1990) — 13 years.
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and Winnie the Pooh (2011) — 34 years. There were also several theatrically released films done by Disneytoon Studios that came out in the interim. Taking those into account, 23 years passed between The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the next theatrically released feature length film The Tigger Movie (2000), and the 2011 film came 6 years after the last theatrically released film Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005).
  • The Jungle Book (1967) and The Jungle Book 2 (2003) — 36 years.
  • Peter Pan (1953) and Return To Neverland (2002) — 49 years.
  • Fantasia (1940) and Fantasia 2000 (1999) — 59 years.
• Disney Animation's sister company Pixar has done this quite a bit as well. Part of this stemmed from Pixar's initial reluctance to produce sequels for most of their films and they did not jump onto the bandwagon until fairly later:
  • Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011) — 5 years. It was followed by Cars 3 (2017) — 6 years. Considering that Cars 3 is a direct sequel to the original Cars then its 11 years.
  • Inside Out (2015) and Inside Out 2 (2024) — 9 years.
  • Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010) — 11 years. And then Toy Story 4 (2019) — 9 years. The entire premise of Toy Story 3 hinges on this, with the film taking place almost a decade after Toy Story 2, with all the repercussions that brings for the characters. Ironically, the admittedly lesser time gap of Toy Story 4 doesn't at all play into the narrative, and the movie was even delayed 2 more years than initially planned due to a Troubled Production. Toy Story 5 is set to released in 2026, 7 years after the previous film.
  • Monsters, Inc. (2001) got a prequel Monsters University in 2013 — 12 years after it was released. The sequel series Monsters at Work (2021) came out 8 years later, which was also 20 years after the original film, which it directly follows chronologically.
  • Finding Nemo (2003) got a sequel called Finding Dory in 2016 — a gap of 13 years.
  • The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018) — 14 years. The film's theatrical release even had lampshading of this right off the bat — it was bundled with a brief intro from creator Brad Bird and several of the voice actors directly acknowledging and apologizing for the time gap between the two films.
• The Brave Little Toaster (1987) and its sequels:
  • The first Direct to Video sequel, The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue, was completed in 1997 and released in the UK that same year. However, North America had to wait until 1999. This would mean a region-specific gap of 10 or 12 years.
  • Further complicating matters is another sequel. The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars was completed and released in 1998. Among those who didn't get To the Rescue first, this would be an 11-year gap between the first film and Goes to Mars.
• The Disney+ exclusive Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again (2022) came 8 years after Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).
• Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011) and Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020) — 9 years.

Other examples

• An American Tail:
  • An American Tail (1986) and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) — 5 years.
  • An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) — 7 years.
• Batman
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which ended back in 2011, had a brief revival in the form of a DVD movie, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in 2018, which is roughly 7 years later.
  • Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) is the first animated entry into the DC Animated Universe since Justice League Unlimited ended its run in 2006 — a gap of 11 years. And it is the first animated Batman film in the DCAU since Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003) — a 14-year gap.
• The Land Before Time:
  • The Land Before Time (1988) and The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (1994) — 6 years.
  • The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends (2007) and The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave (2016) — 9 years. If the 2007-2008 TV series is counted, the gap is eight years.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water (2015) — 11 years.
  • The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2021) — 6 years.^note Sponge on the Run was intended to be a 2020 theatrical release, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It was theatrically released in Canada, though, in August 2020; making that 5 years in that sense.
• Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! (2010) and Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle (2015) — 5 years.
• The LEGO Movie (2014) and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) — 5 years, though the spin-offs The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Ninjago Movie (both 2017) were released in the interim.
• Open Season 3 (2011) and Open Season: Scared Silly (2016) — 5 years
• Sing (2016) and Sing 2 (2021) — 5 years.
• Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) and The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022) — about 5 1/2 years.
• A Car's Life: Sparky's Big Adventure (2006) and A Car's Life 2 (2012) — 6 years.
• FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) and FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue (1998) — 6 years.
• Hoodwinked! (2005) and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011) — 6 years.
• All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) and All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) — 7 years.
• Balto (1995) and Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) — 7 years.
• The Croods (2013) and The Croods: A New Age (2020) — 7 years.
• Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) and Sherlock Gnomes (2018) — 7 years.^note Also involved a Channel Hop from Disney to Paramount.
• Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) — 7 years. It also comes 5 years after Despicable Me 3 (2017) in the larger Despicable Me franchise. Despicable Me 4 will release in 2024, a further 7 years after the aforementioned Despicable Me 3.
• Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The seventh film, Amazing Pleasant Goat, released in 2015, and the eighth film, Dunk for Future, released in 2022 — 7 years. Up to this point, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf films would usually release every year.
• Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! meets Courage the Cowardly Dog (2021) was released 7 years after the previous Courage installment, which was the 2014 3D short The Fog of Courage, which itself was released twelve years after the last episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog aired in 2002.
• Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) — 8 years
• Surf's Up (2007) and Surf's Up 2: WaveMania (2017) — 10 years.
• Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995) and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) — 10 years
• Puss in Boots (2011) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) — 11 years.
• Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans (2019) was the first non-cameo continuation of Teen Titans (2003) since Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006) — 13 years.
• Megamind (2010) and Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate (2024) — 14 years.
• The third sequel to The Swan Princess, The Swan Princess Christmas, came out in 2012, 14 years after the previous sequel, The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom.
• TMNT (2007), which is loosely implied to be a Broad Strokes sequel to the live action trilogy, came 14 years after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993).
• Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002) and Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie (2017) — 15 years, and 13 years after the final episode of the main series aired in 2004.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters (2007) and Aqua Teen Forever Plantasm (2022) — 15 years.
• The Secret of NIMH (1982) and The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998) — 16 years.
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Spirit Untamed (2021) — 19 years, though there is also the Spirit: Riding Free series, which aired between 2017 and 2020.
• Cat City (1986) and Cat City 2: The Cat of Satan (2007) — 21 years.
• Chicken Run (2000) and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) — 23 years.
• Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) and Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022) — 26 years.
• Vuk the Little Fox (1981) and Kis Vuk (A Fox's Tale) (2008) — 27 years.
• Charlotte's Web (1973) to Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (2002) — 29 years.
• The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, which started and finished in 1985, was revived in the form of a DVD movie, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, in 2019, which is 34 years later.

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