There’s no greater cash cow for Hollywood than a movie franchise, but while a series might guarantee an audience, does a sequel equal success? There are some sequels so bad that they almost manage to hog the limelight from the original… Let the show begin:
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Even himbo Keanu Reeves has the sense to stay away from this follow-up which sank quicker than a cruise-liner with a bomb on it. At least Sandra Bullock was given another chance to prove that not all her sequels are dud with Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous. Ahem.
Weekend at Bernie’s II
This inclusion might imply that the original was a classic not to be matched, but let’s leave that to the side and look at the fact that the studio were literally flogging the dead with this sequel. Bernie Lomax would be spinning in his gave – had he ever been given a coffin.
Ocean’s Twelve
Clooney and co. charmed as so much with their remake of the 1960 classic that we wanted to like the follow-up, we really did, which is why it was so insulting that they simply laughed back in our faces with their endless ‘look at us’ in-jokes (the ultimate surely being Julia Roberts playing Julia Roberts).
Teen Wolf, Too
To demonstrate that a sequel rarely works without the original talent (see also Home Alone post-Macaulay Culkin). Sorry, Jason Bateman, you might have redeemed yourself a few decades on with Arrested Development, but you’re no Michael J. Fox.
The Next Karate Kid
Proof that we all have a second chance… This is a film so bad that it caused Hilary Swank to take such a career turn-around that she went on to win two Oscars. A further sequel is rumoured to be in the making starring Will Smith’s son. Be afraid.
Godfather III
We mention Godfather, Part II later, so there’s a balance somewhere. And at least there’s a silver-lining in that Francis Coppola’s daughter Sofia was so devastated by the universal panning of her appearance that she vowed never to act again and went on to make The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation instead (let’s forget Marie Antoinette).
Grease 2
See also Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Some films are just better off left alone.
Troll 2
This isn’t strictly a bad sequel, more just a bad film. In fact, it’s currently IMDB.com’s worst rated of all time. A troll doesn’t even figure in it and the monster is killed with a ham sandwich. Need we say more?
Batman and Robin
You know there’s a problem with a script when the entire cast are upstaged by a pair of nipples. Batman and Robin is such a bad film you almost wonder how the same franchise possibly managed to spawn The Dark Knight.
S. Darko
OK, it hasn’t even screened yet, but we’re taking a chance and including this anyway.
Not all bad?
There are always some exceptions (arguably Godfather, Part II, French Connection II, Aliens, Dark Knight, Back to the Future 2, The Bourne Ultimatum, Terminator 2: Judgement Day), but a good film is a hard act to follow and a bad film, well, just shouldn’t be followed, so it’s rare for a sequel to reap critical praise. In fact, 2003′s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the last one to win Best Picture at the Oscars and there hasn’t even been a nomination since.
