Movie sequels are solid box-office bets for studios, which is why multiplexes are so full of sequels all year round. But while big, blockbuster sequels are busy making hundreds of millions of dollars, some sequels go completely unheard of, and many even go straight to DVD.
Often it's for the best that these sequels go unseen, as there are good reasons why nobody ever hears of them in the first place. But sometimes, they are actually great and undeservedly overlooked. Between sequels to classic Christmas movies, follow-ups to Coen Brothers classics, and successors that totally switch the genre, there's a whole world of bewildering and forgotten sequels out there.
Jingle All The Way 2 (2014)
Though the movie isn't exactly a critical darling, the almost nihilistic Arnold Schwarznegger-starring Christmas movie Jingle All The Way has a huge cult following. It's especially popular among 20-somethings who grew up with it in the 1990s. But what those now-adults probably don't know is that it got a sequel starring Larry the Cable Guy instead of Schwarzenegger. It's hardly surprising that the film was despised by everybody who saw it.
It seems like Larry the Cable Guy has somehow become the go-to guy for direct-to-video sequels that nobody has heard of. The comedian and country singer also starred in Tooth Fairy 2, which equally suffered the wrath of both critics and general audiences.
A Christmas Story 2 (2012)
A Christmas Story is a classic and unique Christmas movie, as it's essentially a bunch of borderline surreal vignettes tied together with hilarious narration. It's impossible to recapture the same magic, but that doesn't mean the studio didn't try.
It seems like the filmmakers didn't know the saying "strike while the iron's hot," as A Christmas Story 2 arrived almost 30 years after the original, and it was too little too late. The movie was too derivative of the original and relied too much on all of the same jokes. However, the original movie does actually have another, more unknown sequel, My Summer Story, which even brought back some of the original cast, but it wasn't much better.
Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite! (2020)
It's unlikely that people even knew about Cats & Dogs 2, never mind Cats & Dogs 3. The original 2001 movie was nothing special, but it was still fun and entertaining, as it depicted what the two inherent enemies at war could actually look like. And it was a surprise box office hit too, as it made $200 million worldwide.
The threequel comes a full 19 years after the franchise started, and it's clear that it isn't exactly the hot property that it once was. Almost no effort has gone into Paws Unite!, whether it's the poor animation or the lack of famous actors voicing the furry creatures, which is something the original wore like a badge of honor.
The Jesus Rolls (2019)
The Big Lebowski is a cult classic, and there's even an annual festival, Lebowski Fest, which celebrates the original 1998 movie. However, it's unlikely that the sequel/spinoff, The Jesus Rolls, will be getting the same treatment any time soon.
There's a lot that Big Lebowski fans probably don't know about The Jesus Rolls. The movie follows the titular Jesus (John Turturro,) the purple-clad, pedophilic bowler who appeared in just one scene in the classic. Unfortunately, the 2019 film had no involvement from the celebrated Coen brothers, and it was instead a passion project of John Turturro's. However, the brothers did give the actor their blessing, and John Turturro wrote and directed it.
Return To Oz (1985)
The Wizard of Oz is one of the greatest musicals of all time and it changed cinema forever with its unprecedented Technicolor technology. But 44 years later, the movie got a sequel, Return To Oz, which was drastically different in tone. The trailer almost makes the film look like a horror movie.
However, if it wasn't for the bright, colorful, and whimsical original, Return To Oz would be looked at as a fascinating dystopian sci-fi movie. There are so many interesting things going on in the 1985 movie and it's actually more faithful to the source material than the 1939 classic. And in that respect, this sequel is "bad" only when compared to its predecessor.
U.S. Marshals (1998)
When it comes to making sequels of classics, U.S. Marshals could almost make fans have a worse perception of the original, but luckily enough, few people ever saw the follow-up. The 1998 movie is a sequel to The Fugitive, which is one of the most suspenseful crime movies and features one of the most thrilling cat-and-mouse chases. But that isn't the case for the sequel.
The sequel had the potential to be great. There's so much material to borrow from, as The Fugitive is an adaptation of a TV show with 120 episodes. But instead, U.S. Marshals follows a story that's completely outside of the series, and it suffered commercially and critically for it.
2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
It doesn't matter how great 2010: The Year We Make Contact is, it will always be looked at as inferior relative to the original. 2001: A Space Odyssey pushed cinema forward technologically by decades, and even films today can't replicate what Stanley Kubrick achieved over 50 years ago.
Nevertheless, the 1984 movie is a solid sequel, and in some cases, it's better. As the original movie creates so many questions that fans have been debating for years, they'd get proper answers if they actually watched The Year We Make Contact.
S. Darko (2009)
S. Darko is a little controversial, as the studio went ahead with the movie without writer-director Richard Kelly's involvement. And as the original is a very auteur-driven movie and clearly made by someone with a distinct vision, it was impossible to make a sequel that would match the profundity of Donnie Darko.
However, there is a chance that fans of the original may actually get a proper Donnie Darko sequel. But at this point, it may not be that much better than the 2009 movie considering that Kelly is a one-hit-wonder director, as he hasn't made a good movie since the first film.
Mean Girls 2 (2011)
Mean Girls is one of those movies that defied audiences' expectations, as it turned out to be a fascinatingly detailed and smart comedy. Unfortunately, the sequel seems to forget why the original was so acclaimed. However, there are a select few fans who believe the Mean Girls sequel is good.
Trying desperately to capitalize on the original movie, and maybe even trying to fool people into thinking it is the original movie, the DVD cover of Mean Girls 2 looks almost identical to the first film. Mean Girls 2 has an almost identical premise to the original, only without the clever jokes and accurate observations on high school life.
American Psycho 2 (2002)
Fans of American Psycho wouldn't believe the premise of American Psycho 2, and it completely misunderstands why the first film was so great. The original 2000 movie is a smart and thrilling satire that is just as amusing as it is terrifying. However, the sequel turns the "series" into supernatural horror, as it sees a woman become possessed by Patrick Bateman's evil spirit.
The movie also ruins the ambiguity of the original's ending, as it proves that Bateman's murders were real. On top of that, the sequel features one of the weirdest on-screen pairings ever, as Mila Kunis and William Shatner star in the strange sequel.