Just about everyone has declared 2011 to be the year of the sequel. With this weekend’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, prequels are also joining in on the franchise fun. The James Franco-starring movie has been doing fairly well at the box office so far, a bit surprising considering that target audience members for summer blockbusters have not likely seen the originally films. Memorable prequels do not come along very often, but Kayleigh and I each wrote about our top five favorites.

1. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)

2. The New World (Terrence Malick)

3. Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki)

4. Match Point (Woody Allen)

5. Capote (Bennett Miller)

6. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)

7. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)

8. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow)

9. Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright)

10. Good Night, and Good Luck. (George Clooney)

Updated: February 13, 2012

See Also: Top 10 Albums of 2005, Top 10 Movies of 1953, Top 10 Movies of 1957, Top 10 Movies of 1962, Top 10 Movies of 1972, Top 10 Movies of 1984, Top 10 Movies of 1986, Top 10 Movies of 1989, Top 10 Movies of 1992, Top 10 Movies of 1999, Top 10 Movies of 2002, Top 10 Movies of 2003, Top 10 Movies of 2004, Top 10 Movies of 2007, Top 10 Movies of 2008, Top 10 Movies of 2009, Top 10 Movies of 2010, Top 10 Movies of 2011