15 Incredibly Late Sequels That Took Decades To Arrive

13. The Two Jakes - 16 Years

The Previous Film: Chinatown (1974) Single-handedly making the neo-noir subgenre (which has far reaching effects from Blade Runner to L.A. Confidential), Chinatown is one of Roman Polanski's best films. Starring Jack Nicholson as P.I. Jake Gittes, what originally seems like an easy job unravels to uncover a plot involving mass corruption, Los Angeles' water supply and some stuff that's even darker. Notable for one of the best (and immediately quotable) endings of all time. The Late Sequel: The Two Jakes (1990) Directed by Jack Nicholson, the unexpected sequel has Gittes wrapped up in a similar plot, only this time to subject is gas instead of water. There's some novel flourishes, although a third act twist feels like its just trying to ape the narrative structure of the original. Was It Worth The Wait? There wasn't really much desire to see a sequel to Chinatown and what was delivered didn't really live up to the atmospheric original. A third film in the series was scrapped after The Two Jakes performed abysmally.