Hollywood studios can’t wait to greenlight a sequel when one of their movies is a hit at the box office. In theory, if audiences turned up to see those characters the first time, they’ll come back for their next adventure. And based on the proliferation of franchises in recent years, that’s usually the case.
But sequels to hit movies don’t always repeat the success of their predecessors. From Evan Almighty to Terminator: Dark Fate to The Matrix Resurrections, some sequels have bombed at the box office.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Every entry in the original Matrix trilogy was a huge moneymaker for Warner Bros. so, naturally, the studio spent the following years desperately trying to convince the Wachowskis to make a fourth movie. Lana Wachowski reluctantly stepped in to helm the sequel to prevent Warner from making one without the involvement of either of the original creators. Surprisingly, The Matrix Resurrections didn’t come close to matching its predecessors’ success.
It was one of the movies affected by Warner’s controversial pandemic-era move to simultaneously release its tentpoles in theaters and on HBO Max. The movie was a success on the streaming site, but not enough viewers went to theaters to make back the $190 million budget. According to Box Office Mojo, The Matrix Resurrections grossed just $157.3 million worldwide.
Caddyshack II (1988)
Often included on lists of the worst sequels ever made, Caddyshack II is connected to the classic original in name only. Chevy Chase is the only returning cast member and his role is confined to a glorified cameo appearance.
According to Box Office Mojo, Caddyshack II was nowhere near the hit that its predecessor was, despite having a more lenient PG rating. It grossed just $11.8 million on a budget of $20 million.
Batman & Robin (1997)
Just as Tim Burton’s second Batman movie went too dark for mainstream audiences, Joel Schumacher’s second Batman movie was too silly for their tastes. Batman & Robin killed the franchise for nearly a decade. It took Christopher Nolan reinventing the genre to save it. Schumacher doubled down on the hypercamp Adam Westian tone he established in Batman Forever, with a Bat-Credit Card and nipples on the Batsuit.
The reported budget, between $125 million and $160 million, would be considered large by today’s standards, let alone 25 years ago. The movie needed a lot more than its worldwide gross of $238.2 million (according to The Numbers) to be considered a hit.
Evan Almighty (2007)
When the Jim Carrey-starring Biblical comedy Bruce Almighty became an unexpected box office hit, the producers got to work on a sequel revolving around Steve Carell’s character Evan Baxter. Although Evan was a villain in the original movie, he became a more straightforward protagonist in Evan Almighty. Morgan Freeman reprises his role as God, this time to recruit Evan to play the role of a modern-day Noah and build an ark to shelter two of every animal from an upcoming flood.
Thanks to the VFX that went into bringing the ark, the animals, and the flood to life, Evan Almighty cost a whopping $175 million before marketing costs. According to Box Office Mojo, it fell just short of recouping its production budget with a gross of $174.4 million.
Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
The first Basic Instinct movie wasn’t particularly well-received by critics, but it was a masterpiece compared to the belated sequel that swept the Razzies and bombed at the box office. Sharon Stone reprises her role as crime novelist and suspected serial killer Catherine Tramell. This time, a Scotland Yard psychiatrist is assigned to profile her and, once again, she seduces him.
According to Box Office Mojo, with a budget of $70 million (a surprisingly large figure for an erotic thriller), Basic Instinct 2 grossed just $38.6 million.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
When Fox launched its X-Men franchise, it became a cultural landmark that helped to establish comic book adaptations as viable blockbusters. In the summer of 2019, that franchise came to an unceremonious end with the financial failure of Dark Phoenix.
This was the series’ second botched attempt to translate the seminal “Dark Phoenix Saga” to the screen. On a budget of $200 million, it grossed just $252.4 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Son Of The Mask (2005)
Son of the Mask is another sequel to a Jim Carrey hit missing the one thing that made the original a hit: Jim Carrey. Audiences didn’t love The Mask for the mask itself; it was the way the rubbery cartoonishness of the mask made use of Carrey’s comedic talents.
Released more than a decade after the original, Son of the Mask was a critical and commercial failure. According to The Numbers, it only made back $59.9 million of a blockbuster budget reported to be somewhere between $84 million and $100 million.
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
Another sequel lacking the original star, Speed 2: Cruise Control, bombed at the box office. Sandra Bullock returns as the bus driver, but Keanu Reeves wisely avoided reprising his role as the gun-toting S.W.A.T. officer. A speeding luxury cruise liner charging through open ocean is nowhere near as thrilling as a speeding bus weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic.
The sequel had a much bigger budget than the original and grossed a lot less money. Speed 2 cost somewhere from $110 million to $160 million, and according to Box Office Mojo, it only made $164.5 million.
Zoolander 2 (2016)
15 years after the first Zoolander movie hit theaters, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson reprised their roles as male models Derek Zoolander and Hansel in Zoolander 2. The sequel was met with universally negative reviews. It has even more celebrity cameos than the original, but a fraction of the laughs.
This weak critical reception led to weak box office returns. According to Box Office Mojo, Zoolander 2 barely made back its $50-55 million production budget with a gross of $56.7 million. Even with a decade-and-a-half of inflation on its side, Zoolander 2 grossed less than its predecessor.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Even the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and creator James Cameron couldn’t save the Terminator franchise. 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate still couldn’t top the wildly satisfying conclusion of T2 (and it didn’t help that it completely undid that conclusion within the first few minutes).
With the bleak message that even if the Connors manage to prevent the rise of Skynet, a new malicious A.I. will just rise up in its place, Dark Fate bombed at the box office. According to Digital Spy, it grossed $261.1 million on a budget of $185-196 million.