BLASTS FROM THE PAST

The King’s Man takes place a century before Kingsman: The Secret Service. How far back have other prequels delved?

65 YEARS

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (2016)

Set in 1926, Fantastic Beasts is unique among prequels for being based on an old textbook used by characters in the original story. Of course, the events of the film aren’t quite so tangential, setting up big baddie wizard and Deathly Hallow owner Grindelwald.

100 YEARS

TREMORS 4: THE LEGEND BEGINS (2004)

Turns out gun-toting survivalist Burt (Michael Gross) — of Tremors 1 to 3 ‘fame’ — wasn’t the first member of the Gummer clan to encounter the deadly Graboids in this cult monster series. That would be his greatgrandpappy Hiram (also Gross), forced to take them on when they assault his silver mine in rootin-tootin’ 1889.

185 YEARS

GINGER SNAPS BACK: THE BEGINNING (2004)

Is there such a thing as preincarnation? There is now. Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins), the werewolfy sisters from the first two Ginger Snaps films, appear without explanation in 1815, dealing with (and getting infected by) lycanthropes in Hudson Bay. It’s like we’ve seen it all before. Only, er, since.

1,967 YEARS

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)

How did those damn, dirty apes take over the Earth? Well, if you ignore Escape From... (1971) and Conquest Of The

Planet Of Apes (1972), the answer is in Rupert Wyatt’s 2011 prequel-reboot, which blames iffy Alzheimer’s research and animal experimentation. Look out for the news-broadcast Easter eggs tracking the launch and disappearance of the Icarus mission. They really should have picked a different name…

5,000 YEARS

THE SCORPION KING (2002)

Technically, this is a prequel to a flashback sequence in a sequel, but let’s not split hairs. This star-vehicle for WWE big man The Rock is set five millennia before The Mummy’s 1920s high-jinks, for a fun origin story about the Protodynastic-egyptian warrior destined to one day become a really bad visual effect. DAN JOLIN