Movie sequels are tough to execute, and though there are a handful of franchises that are perfect, there are also many others that failed to deliver on quality follow-ups. As long as Hollywood has existed, so too has the idea of the film sequel. When a movie does well at the box office, producers are usually clamoring to cash in.

Therein usually lies the problem with sequels, and many follow-ups are more about making money than they are about telling compelling stories. Some film franchises have expansive worlds that can’t fit within the narrative of a single movie, but others are stretched thinly across a copious number of bad sequels.

Genre also plays a part in the frequency of sequels, with horror, action, and fantasy spawning their fair share. Rarely does a sequel manage to meet the quality of the original, and that becomes even truer with each new film in an ever-expanding franchise. Even if one or two sequels work, they are usually drowned by several more bad ones.

Bad sequels can be especially disappointing when the original film was a classic, and there’s nothing worse than an excellent idea being squandered by a terrible follow-up. Whether they’re cynical cash grabs or just creatively bankrupt, a bad sequel can do a lot to spoil the reputation of a great film.

10

Hellraiser (1987-2022)

Clive Barker’s Nightmarish Concept Has Been Butchered

Noted horror author Clive Barker successfully adapted his novella, The Hellbound Heart, in 1987, but the Hellraiser franchise went off the rails almost immediately after. Though the first sequel, Hellbound, was a serviceable exploration of the rich lore of the Cenobites, none of the follow-ups came close to being as scary or original as the debut film.

The biggest problem was that the Hellraiser series quickly devolved into straight-to-video fare, meaning the budgets were slashed considerably. Also, the complex and sadistic Cenobites were turned into generic horror movie villains, and none of the sequels seemed interested in Barker’s rich themes. When Pinhead went online in Hellworld, the series had officially jumped the shark.

9

Ghostbusters (1984-2024)

The Nostalgic ’80s Franchise Couldn’t Get It Right

Though Ghostbusters is one of the most beloved films of the 1980s, it has never fared well as a franchise. Cartoons and comic books have expanded the lore, but the supernatural exterminators have faltered every time they tried to return to the big screen. Ghostbusters 2 nearly got it right, but it lacked the strong character-driven humor of the original.

A 2016 reboot failed to launch, and a duo of legacy sequels felt like cynical nostalgia bait, and not someone’s actual creative vision. 2021’s Afterlife was far too disjointed to ever make a great film, and the 2024 sequel tried something new but couldn’t stick the landing. No sequel will ever be able to recreate the original’s charm.

8

Robocop (1987-2014)

The Sequels Dropped The Biting Satire

Robocop is both an excellent action film, and a witty dissection of many of the tropes found in the genre. The bitingly satirical action comedy featured rich layers of commentary, and that’s something that none of the rest of the Robocop franchise could duplicate. Robocop 2 was the least offensive, but it was a far cry from the 1987 classic.

It all began to fall apart when the movies took Robocop seriously, and started treating him like the very action heroes that he was originally spoofing.

It all began to fall apart when the movies took Robocop seriously, and started treating him like the very action heroes that he was originally spoofing. Robocop 3 dropped to a PG-13 rating, completely stripping the series of its ultraviolent humor. The 2014 remake fared no better, and woefully misunderstood what made Robocop so good in the first place.

7

Jaws (1975-1987)

A String Of Increasingly Unnecessary Sequels

1975’s Jaws is one of the most important summer blockbusters of all time, and it helped to make director Steven Spielberg a household name. Unfortunately, that meant that a string of increasingly unnecessary sequels would follow. 1978’s Jaws 2 was a down-to-earth sequel with a few highlights, but that’s where the fun stopped.

Jaws 3-D was a cheesy disaster that stretched the limits of suspended disbelief to its breaking point, while 1987’s The Revenge mercifully ended the franchise on a sour note. Simplicity and effective scares helped make Jaws so successful, but the sequels never bothered to invest in storytelling. Also, they quickly became repeтιтive, with the shark attack sequences losing their luster.

6

Tremors (1990-2020)

The Subterranean Monsters Just Won’t Go Away

Though it was something of a box office disappointment, Tremors proved to be a big hit on home video. This inspired a string of direct-to-video sequels that began to drift further and further from the simple-but-effective charm of the first movie. Michael Gross’ Burt Gummer slowly transitioned into the leading role, and the franchise shifted more toward comedy.

The 1990 film had a strong setup and interesting characters, but the Tremors sequels eschew storytelling in favor of copious Graboid action scenes. While this normally wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, the sequels’ low budgets mean the action is mediocre and sometimes downright awful. More recent sequels have leaned heavily on CGI, further cheapening the experience.

Tremors also inspired a short-lived TV series that ran for one season in 2003.

5

Halloween (1978-2022)

The Classic Slasher Series Is Surprisingly Hollow

John Carpenter helped to invent the modern slasher movie when he made Halloween in 1978, but Michael Myers hasn’t fared well in the decades since. Halloween II picked up right after the first, and was intended to close the book on the masked killer, but the failure of Halloween III meant the anthology approach simply wasn’t going to work.

From the late 1980s through the early 2000s, Myers would return in a handful of movies that ranged from okay, to absolutely terrible. Halloween was so effective because the motivationless crime reflected modern fears, but each sequel tried too hard to explore Myers’ backstory. Even the David Gordon Green trilogy from recent years was way off the mark.

4

The Terminator (1984-2019)

The Highs & Lows Of Action Movie Sequels

The original Terminator was a gritty neo-noir with heady sci-fi concepts that thrilled the viewer with tense action and unique visuals. Terminator 2: Judgement Day arrived and not only matched the quality of its predecessor, but exceeded it in many ways. However, after nailing one great sequel, the rest of the Terminator franchise was downhill.

Terminator 3 got too bogged down in trying to replicate the magic of the first two movies, while the remaining sequels found themselves tangled in the franchise’s complex timeline. Each new reset to the continuity only made things worse, and movies like Genysis and Dark Fate were so focused on time travel paradoxes that they forgot to tell interesting stories.

3

The Matrix (1999-2021)

One Idea Is Stretched Far Too Thin

The Matrix is one of those movies that was perfect for its time, and the rise of technology in the late ’90s was very inspirational for cinema at the turn of the new millennium. Unfortunately, the engaging cyberpunk ideas in the first movie were very quickly stretched thin across two sequels that released in rapid succession.

Though The Matrix Reloaded had a lot of the same action as its predecessor, it was already showing wear-and-tear on its themes. By expanding the world of The Matrix, the movies ultimately risked explaining too much, and that’s exactly what happened in Revolutions. No ending could have been truly satisfying, but the threequel squandered a lot of opportunities.

By the time 2021’s Resurrections rolled around, the inward meta narrative just wasn’t very interesting, and The Matrix had started to feel like a late 1990s time capsule and not cutting-edge cinema.

2

The Karate Kid (1984-2025)

One Great Movie, A Bunch Of Lackluster Sequels

Some movies are begging for sequels, but The Karate Kid wasn’t one. It never seemed necessary to return to the world of The Karate Kid, but Hollywood couldn’t resist the chance to make a quick buck. The Karate Kid Part II started the trend of simply copying the best elements from the first movie, and the threequel followed suit.

The Karate Kid Part II started the trend of simply copying the best elements from the first movie, and the threequel followed suit.

Even when the franchise attempted to restart, it never had the same spark as the first film. The Karate Kid is the quintessential teen drama story, and it has all the hallmarks of a great sports narrative too. Unfortunately, that means that sequels are bound to feel like echoes, and even 2025’s Karate Kid: Legends is just another rehash.

1

Jurᴀssic Park (1993-2025)

The Dinosaur Franchise Couldn’t Recreate The Magic

Decades after he reinvented the blockbuster with Jaws, Steven Spielberg did it again with 1993’s Jurᴀssic Park. Distilling Michael Crichton’s novel into a more appealing cinematic package, the film blended all the best aspects of the art of filmmaking into one easily-consumed package. Sadly, that magic would be lost when the franchise returned in sequels.

The Lost World came closest to matching Jurᴀssic Park, but the third movie was far too strange and cynical. When the Jurᴀssic World franchise began, it too took things in a new direction that divorced it from the charm of the 1993 film.

Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth intentionally leaned toward the grittiness of Crichton’s novel, but was often silly and trite. Movies like Jurᴀssic Park are exceedingly rare, and even its sequels couldn’t live up to the excellence of the original.