Don't ask what happened to the other 2032 Metros.
If a sequel has a number in the title, that number is usually 2, indicating that the work is the second in the series (followed by 3, etc.). However, sometimes the original work already has a number greater than one in the title. In that case, the sequel title will often add one to that number, instead (with a possible in-story justification).
The original work will often have a better justification for using a number in the title than the sequel does. So, the title of the film The Whole Nine Yards refers to a common English expression, but The Whole Ten Yards doesn't.
A subtrope of Numbered Sequels and Title by Number. Distinct from Sequel Number Snarl in that the numbering is logical, it just doesn't start with 1.
Examples:
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Comics
- Discussed in-universe in one strip of Jump Start. Marcy reads in the news that a sequel to Se7en has been greenlit, and says it's going to be named 8ight.
Film
- 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street
- Lampshaded fantastically in the end credits, showing the events of 23 Jump Street. And 24 Jump Street... And 25 Jump Street...
- Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen. The first film has eleven people in the crew, the second adds Tess as the twelfth member, and the third film doesn't include Tess but adds Terry Benedict and Roman.
- The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). D'Artagnan becomes a Musketeer at the end of the first film.
- The Whole Nine Yards and The Whole Ten Yards
- 101 Dalmatians (the 1996 live action version) and 102 Dalmatians (its 2000 sequel). The second movie has Cruella De Vil add a hood to the design of the puppy-fur coat, requiring three more puppy skins for a total of 102.
- Subverted with Star Wars. A New Hope wasn't numbered at the time it was released, then The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi came out, and were numbered V and VI respectively, with A New Hope being numbered IV afterwards, meaning that, at least after The Empire Strikes Back, Lucasfilm already had plans for a prequel trilogy.
- Three-Headed Shark Attack is the sequel to Two-Headed Shark Attack, not the third in a series. Confusingly, 5-Headed Shark Attack is the next one in the series, with Six-Headed Shark Attack after that, skipping over a hypothetical Four-Headed Shark Attack.
- The announced title for a planned sequel to Twins (1988) was Triplets. It's been in Development Hell for a long time and with Ivan Reitman's passing the chances of it getting made got slimmer.
Literature
- The Magic by the Numbers trilogy by Lyndon Hardy: Master of the Five Magics, Secret of the Sixth Magic, and Riddle of the Seven Realms.
- Metro 2033, Metro 2034, and Metro 2035 by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
- Inverted by Matthew Reilly's Jack West thrillers, which begin with Seven Ancient Wonders and count down to The One Impossible Labyrinth.
- The Stephanie Plum novels are named after a phrase with a number that matches its publishing order, starting with One For the Money.
Music
- Soul-Junk uses and inverts this. Their first album was named 1950. Albums that followed counted up (1951, 1952...), while EPs counted down (1949, then 1948...).
- 100 gecs has an "N*10 Sequel Title" thing going on with their releases. Their first EP is the Self-Titled Album 100 gecs (EP), followed by their first real album 1000 gecs, and its follow-up 10,000 gecs.
Theatre
- The film 8½ was adapted to the play Nine (Musical).
Video Games
- 1942 and 1943: The Battle of Midway. 1941: Counter Attack was actually the third game (fourth if you count 1943 Kai).
- While not a sequel, the hard mode in killer7 retitles the game killer8 due to the addition of a young Harman Smith as a persona.
- Space Station 14 is the Fan Remake of Space Station 13, which was itself named after the 13 Is Unlucky trope.
- Inverted by the fan game Super Mario 63 which subtracts 1 from Super Mario 64 rather than adding.
Western Animation
- Sealab 2020 and its Gag Dub follow-up Sealab 2021.
