With the recent success of Top Gun: Maverick, released decades after the original film, it's clear that sequels and remakes are not going anywhere anytime soon, for good or ill. Thankfully, Top Gun: Maverick avoids the typical mistakes often made when releasing a sequel. It stayed true to the original story with plenty of throwbacks while telling the next chapter in Pete Mitchell's career.
A sequel should continue the story and characters that audiences have fallen in love with. However, plenty unfortunately miss the mark. Fans at Ranker voted on the worst movie sequels of all time. These movies fell flat in storytelling and in the box office.
Legally Blondes (2009)
Legally Blondes is the third movie in the Legally Blonde franchise, but the first movie to not include Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods as the protagonist. Instead, the sequel follows British cousins, Annie and Izzy, as they move into Elle's home and begin attending a fancy prep school. Despite being mentioned, Elle is not present anywhere in the movie and there are few ties to the original.
With over 5,300 reviews, Legally Blondes has an IMDB rating of 3.6/10. Without Elle Woods, the sequel contains few heartwarming or smart moments. It strays from the powerful women of the original movies. Hopefully, the upcoming Legally Blonde 3 is better and erases any timeline Legally Blondes created.
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
Speed 2: Cruise Control finds Sandra Bullock reprising her role as Annie Porter from Speed. While on a cruise, the ship is hijacked, and she must prevent an accident with an oil tanker. Sandra Bullock claims she is still embarrassed by the movie and Keanu Reeves chose not to return to his role as Jack Traven because the plot didn't make sense. The script was reworked to include a new character.
As one of the best Keanu Reeves movies, Speed was nominated for a slew of awards including nine MTV Movie and TV Awards, winning five awards. However, the lackluster plot of Speed 2: Cruise Control could not live up to its predecessor and the film holds a mere 4% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomato Meter.
American Psycho 2 (2002)
Originally titled The Girl Who Wouldn't Die, a storyline to tie in American Psycho's Patrick Bateman was added to turn American Psycho 2 into a sequel. After the serial killer is murdered by a child at the beginning of the movie, there is nothing to tie in the sequel to the original. Starring Mila Kunis and William Shatner, American Psycho 2 follows an entirely new serial killer.
The movie did not do as well as the original. Mila Kunis has expressed her embarrassment over the terrible movie and does not want a third movie to ever happen. American Psycho 2 holds a shocking 0% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomato Meter. Kunis has still been able to have a successful career and will reprise her role as Jackie Burkhart on That '90s Show.
Home Alone 3 (1997)
Home Alone 3 is the third release in the Home Alone franchise. However, after the second film, things went downhill in the storytelling. This sequel is the first to not star Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister. Following a young boy, Alex, who stays home sick from school, he defends his home from criminals looking for a microchip that was stashed inside his remote-controlled car.
Kevin McCallister is one of the best kid characters in movie history. Unfortunately, Alex has not been as popular. Home Alone 3 holds a 29% on the Tomato Meter at Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for Worst Remake or Sequel at the Golden Raspberry Awards in 1998. Despite the performance and inability to match the original, three more movies have been released since Home Alone 3.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is more of a reimagining than a sequel to Dirty Dancing, moving the setting to Cuba during the revolution. Though there are multiple things that don’t make sense about Dirty Dancing like why Baby isn’t the one to say the famous “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” the movie remains a classic from the ‘80s.
The sequel doesn’t compare. Patrick Swayze briefly appears as a dance teacher, but quickly disappears. The stars lack the dancing abilities of Swayze and Jennifer Grey and it’s noticeable throughout the dance numbers. The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday reviews the film, writing, “Swayze is the brightest light in an otherwise forgettable if unobjectionable movie.” Audiences will soon have another sequel to judge as Grey will return as Baby in Dirty Dancing 2.
The Birds II: Land's End (1994)
As a standalone made-for-TV sequel, The Birds II: Land’s End was released a solid 31 years after the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds. A family moves to a remote island after the death of their son but finds a huge flock of birds begin terrorizing the residents. Tippi Hedren starred in the original as Melanie Daniels and returned for a small role in the sequel as a different character.
Unfortunately, The Birds II: Land’s End wasn’t as terrifying as the original killer birds, and the cast and crew distanced themselves from the film. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly writes the film was “directed by 'Alan Smithee,' the time-honored Hollywood pseudonym used when a director wants to disown the finished product…He has good reasons to want his name erased from it. If it were me, I’d sue.”
Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
As another sequel released over a decade after the original, Sharon Stone returns as crime novelist turned serial killer Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct 2. Unfortunately, it was a box office flop compared to the original. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie only grossed $3.2 million opening weekend and went on to gross $38.6 million worldwide.
In an interview with The Scotsman, director Michael Caton-Jones accepted the position out of necessity, stating, “I was completely broke and had to take anything that came in. Basic Instinct 2 was this poisoned chalice that had been passed around and eventually it arrived at my door.” Perhaps the sequel should have been scrapped entirely.
Mean Girls 2 (2011)
Mean Girls 2 premiered on ABC Family in 2011, seven years after the original movie. With a group of new girls as the “Plastics” at North Shore High, the sequel does not pack the same level of quotable phrases and iconic scenes. The original film solidified itself in pop culture. Ariana Grande paid homage to Mean Girls in her music video for “Thank You, Next.”
Starring lesser-known stars, Mean Girls 2 only has one returning cast member in Tim Meadows, the school principal and with little ties to the original, feels like a remake rather than a sequel. Entertainment Weekly’s Hillary Busis reviewed the film, writing, “don’t sully Mean Girls’ reputation by associating those rip-offs with Tina Fey’s masterpiece.”
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 is a surprising sequel considering Baby Geniuses did not do well with critics, currently holding a 2% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomato Meter. Nevertheless, the intelligent toddlers returned with a similar lackluster plot. This time, the tots must stop a media mogul from kidnapping children and brainwashing the world.
Just like the original, Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 was panned by critics and currently holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomato Meter. Michael Sullivan of The Washington Post reviewed the film, writing it is “so bad that I predict there will be drinking games set around viewing it someday.” He’s probably not wrong. The terrible storytelling and early CGI have not made it a cult classic.
Son Of The Mask (2005)
Set a decade after the events of The Mask, Son of the Mask goes more in-depth into the story behind the magical mask as a baby is born with the powers of the mask. Jamie Kennedy takes over starring role duties from Jim Carey and he cannot compare. Carey was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy in 1995 for his portrayal in The Mask.
Son of the Mask was the sequel no audience asked for. Roger Ebert criticized the sequel, writing, “What we basically have here is a license for the filmmakers to do whatever they want to do with the special effects, while the plot, like Wile E. Coyote, keeps running into the wall.” While somehow Jim Carey made the original plot work, Son of the Mask failed to have a logical storyline.