The 15 worst movie sequels ever, ranked

New Line Cinema

“Son of the Mask.”

This summer has been filled with sequels we really didn’t want to see.

From “Alice Through the Looking Glass” to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” they really should have stopped at one.

But in no way are the failures of sequels in 2016 a new thing in Hollywood. There are decades upon decades of bad sequels that have abused our eyeballs.

Here we rank the 15 worse sequels of all time.

15. “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”

The late 1980s was an interesting time. We were coming out of the Cold War and peace was a big theme throughout the world. So why wouldn’t we make a movie where Superman collects all the nuclear weapons the world ever created and throws them into the sun?

That launches Lex Luthor’s latest plan to destroy Superman. The problem is we got a poorly produced movie with lame special effects and yawn-enducing action sequences. 

14. “The Godfather: Part III”

When you go and make arguably the greatest sequel of all time, it’s likely a studio is going to throw money at you until you finally make a third. That’s what happened to director Francis Ford Coppola.

After making two of the most memorable movies ever, he tried to go for the hat trick. And though the (presumably) final feature-length tale of the Corleone family has grown in acceptance over the years, it still is hard to watch. 

13. “The Matrix Reloaded”/”The Matrix Revolutions”

After “The Matrix” became a sensation, it was obvious there would be another movie. And given the hype around Neo and his quest to become “The One,” most were dissatisfied by how the eventual trilogy (“Reloaded” and “Revolutions” were shot together) continued.  

12. “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”

Some sequels miss their window and that’s what happened with Oliver Stone’s return to the world of Wall Street. Gordon Gekko trying to get back into the game after serving jail time didn’t have the edge of the original. Perhaps because the stocks and banking world had more of an appeal to audiences in the gluttonous 1980s than in the financially strapped 2000s. 

11. “Spider-Man 3”

By the third film in the Sam Raimi era of the web slinger, you could see the burnout from the director and his two leads, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. The movie didn’t have the same life as the previous two and Venom couldn’t even grab audience’s attention. 

10. “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”

It’s still probably the strangest plot left turn I’ve ever watched. In a franchise that is built around fun relationship comedy, for the sequel Bridget Jones ends up in a Thai prison after authorities find cocaine in a gift she was asked to pack in her suitcase. 

I’m still baffled by this plot twist.

9. “The Hangover Part II”

A good comedy movie is always hard to pull off a second time and the sequel to “The Hangover” is a perfect example. Pretty much going through the same jokes as the first one but this time set in Thailand (note to Hollywood studios: sequels based there don’t work), the movie really has no reason to exist. Oh, they made a “Part III,” by the way. 

8. “Grease 2”

If you thought the original didn’t have any kind of plot then you’ll be amazed by how much less the characters do in the sequel. Obviously the songs are why you’re watching it in the first place, but none of them comes close to the classics in the first movie.

7. “Batman & Robin”

It’s arguably the movie that put the nail in that era of the Batman franchise. The incredibly bizarre costumes. The strange set design. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. Yeah, that’s late-1990s superhero movies in a nutshell, and director Joel Schumacher drove us headfirst into the madness with this movie. 

6. “Son of the Mask”

Jamie Kennedy attempts to do his best Jim Carrey impression and turns out a performance that can only be described as Razzie-worthy (in fact, he was nominated, but the award went that year to Rob Schneider for “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo”). 

5. “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd”

Though the Farrelly brothers wanted no involvement in a sequel that looked at their “Dumb & Dumber” characters in high school, that didn’t stop New Line from coming up with their own. Bad idea. 

4. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

A big reason I’m skeptical about another Indian Jones movie is that I still can’t get rid of the bad taste of the last one. I don’t know if Spielberg filmed those scenes at the end of “Crystal Skull” while enduring a 100-degree flu, but it is the worst footage I’ve ever seen him make. Many others are still baffled by the movie, too. 

3. “Speed 2: Cruise Control”

With a title like that, it’s not hard to figure out why Keanu Reeves said no to the sequel. But seriously, he was out long before the studio probably thought up this awful thing, regarded as one of the worst event films ever made. It’s hard to believe a movie could veer so far from its original’s style and originality. But this one pulled it off.

2. “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2”

Making a sequel to one of the greatest found-footage movies of all time, and a breakout pioneer in the genre, led to a very conventional horror sequel with a director known best for making documentary films, Joe Berlinger. The result is a how-to on making a bad sequel.

1. “Blues Brothers 2000”

Talk about a sequel no one wanted! Eighteen years after director John Landis and stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd created one of the greatest comedy musicals of all time with “The Blues Brothers,” Landis and Aykroyd went and polluted the legacy with this awful sequel. There are just some things that aren’t redeemable.

Dishonorable Mention…

“Be Cool” — The sequel to “Get Shorty” is as unnecessary as half of its cameos.

“Caddyshack II” — The sequel came nowhere close to the originality of the first one.

“Clerks 2” — Kevin Smith tried to make the rare sequel to an indie film and didn’t do so well.

“Fletch Lives” — Chevy Chase bringing back his great Fletch character led to another example of how hard it is to make a comedy sequel.

“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” — The sequel to the original “Jurassic Park” played more like a “King Kong” remake.

“Teen Wolf Too” – With Jason Bateman taking over for Michael J. Fox, the movie is nothing more than a cheesy 1980s comedy.

“xXx: State of the Union” – Ice Cube tries to fill in for Vin Diesel in the “xXx” sequel and proves he’s not cut out to be an action star.

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