10 Movies Everyone Thought Were Sequels (But Weren't)

To take one look at the 1987 post-apocalyptic sci-fi actioner Steel Dawn, you really couldn't be criticised for assuming that it was a gonzo follow-up to 1984's hit action-drama Red Dawn.

The title sounds like a natural successor, its font is even in red on the posters, and said posters also featured star Patrick Swayze wearing a headband just like his character Jed Eckert in Red Dawn.

Now in fairness, Red Dawn appears to end with Jed's death, but this hardly would've been the first (or last) time that Hollywood brought a character back from the dead to ensure a sequel's existence.

All the same, Steel Dawn is very much its own thing - more of a Western that follows the plot of the classic 1953 film Shane. 

But with a little imagination, it isn't hard to accept it as an alt-universe sequel to Red Dawn where Jed survived and the world has gone to hell in a handbasket.