I think Lucas may have actually started the prequel trend with Temple of Doom rather than the Phantom Menace, just to note.

would terminator salvation technically be a prequel?

Would terminator salvation technically be a prequel?

Godfather Part II is as much a prequel as it is a sequel.

Isn’t the odyssey or the Iliad the first example, also one of the wardrobe books was a prequel as well.

Notably, even the three Henry VI plays were written out of order, and not originally all called “Henry VI.” The first play was probably Henry VI, Part 2, which was first published as a “The Contention,” with Henry VI, Part 3 following and being called “The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York.” Part 1 was the last to be written, at which point the three plays could be grouped as a trilogy.

This order indicates that Shakespeare and his co-writers created one play, then decided to follow it up, and then finally returned to chart the beginnings of the journey that they had previously spent two plays on. The pattern: “original, sequel, and prequel.” This won’t be the last time Shakespeare did this, returning to a source and covering either end of its story.

[...]

The popularity of Richard III made it easy for Shakespeare’s company to decide to produce more history plays dealing with the same theme, but I am convinced that Richard as a character haunted Shakespeare. Between Richard’s inherently intriguing nature and the fact that Queen Elizabeth I’s old age and childlessness meant a possible return to a dynastic civil war, Shakespeare had a lot to draw him to the events which led to the Wars of the Roses, covered in the Henry VI plays and Richard III.

Shakespeare thus created an entire prequel tetralogy dealing with a different dynastic struggle, which scholars have come to call “the Henriad.” Why they’ve chosen this name is something we’ll return to shortly, but the plays which comprise it are Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V.

The plays, all written solely by Shakespeare, follow England as it leaves the era of feudalism and chivalry and enters the world of Machiavellian opportunism, of power-grabs, backstabs, and general ruthlessness. Henry IV deposes his cousin Richard II at the end of the latter’s play, while Henry’s own two plays focus as much on his son, Prince Hal (the future Henry V, and namesake of the Henriad), as they do on the king. All of it culminates in the accession of Hal at the end of Henry IV, Part 2. The following play, Henry V, depicts a large-scale war with France in violent detail, and ends with Henry V marrying Catherine of Valois, mother to Henry V’s son, Henry VI. As Henry VI, Part 1 opens with the unexpected death of Henry V, Shakespeare has now caught up to, and connected with, his older work, like a 16th-century George Lucas at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

Well I agree on temple of doom, that was more of just a nod to serials or even westerns that just picked different times in the old days.

Others I can think of. Prometheus, exorcist, mad max, planet of apes, minions, x-men, casino royale, would terminator salvation technically be a prequel? Jack Ryan, kingsman, Hannibal, Annabelle, Texas chainsaw, dumb and dumber, plus a lot of sequels like to add in time travel now to add prequel elements like men in black, Austin powers, shrek, etc.

lol, fifteen years for a trend to pick up momentum.

The Hobbit trilogy