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If there’s one truth in Hollywood, it’s that success will almost always necessitate a repeat. Although sequels were initially rare, they became more commonplace in the 1980s, when the blockbuster mentality of making as much money as humanly possible started to dominate the studio system. Some sequels — “The Godfather Part II,” “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” or “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” — manage not just to recapture the magic of the first movie, but in some ways are better than the original films. Yet more often than not, a sequel becomes something of an embarrassment to its predecessor, making you wish Hollywood had left well enough alone.
The 2010s saw an influx of every kind of sequel, either to movies that had been released not long before or films that had come out decades prior. The so-called “legacy sequel” — a long-awaited followup to a beloved classic — became popular throughout the decade, as studios realized the power of nostalgia. But even bringing back the original stars of past classics couldn’t save some of these films from mediocrity.
The same is true of quick followups to big recent hits, which failed to repeat the success of the initial films despite essentially recreating the formula beat-for-beat. Some sequels were so bad they committed the cardinal sin of single-handedly killing their franchises. Here are the 10 worst movie sequels of the 2010s, based on Rotten Tomatoes reviews, box office tallies, and how they stand up to the legacy of the originals.
Fifty Shades Darker
When it was released in 2015, “Fifty Shades of Grey” defied poor reviews to become a box office smash. So it stood to reason that a sequel — let alone two — would follow. The first was 2017’s “Fifty Shades Darker,” which managed to be even more critically-reviled than the first film despite being directed by “Glengarry Glen Ross” helmer James Foley.
After ending their relationship in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) runs into Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) at a gallery opening. Christian is desperate to rekindle their love affair, and Anastasia agrees on the condition that he accept her terms of “no rules, no punishments, and no more secrets.” Christian agrees, but just as their bond starts to grow stronger, one of his former submissive partners, Leila Williams (Bella Heathcote), returns, intent on reigniting their prior relationship at any cost.
“The all-media screening of “Fifty Shades Darker” I attended had scarcely begun before it turned into a live edition of the TV show ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000,'” wrote Manohla Dargis of The New York Times. 2018’s “Fifty Shades Freed” didn’t fare much better with critics, and failed to make this list for no better reason than one “Fifty Shades” sequel is enough. (Sight and Sound called that one “a totally selfish lover who will never give you what you want.”)
A Good Day to Die Hard
Wise-acre New York City cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) travels to Russia in search of his son, Jack (Jai Courtney), who’s been arrested by the Moscow police. John is surprised to learn that his son isn’t a criminal, but rather an undercover operative working on behalf of the CIA to thwart attempts by the Russian mafia to steal nuclear weapons. The elder and younger McClane team up to stop a potentially disastrous event from occurring (and toss off a few wisecracks while they’re at it).
The first “Die Hard,” released in 1988, is a certified classic, and at least two of its sequels — 1990’s “Die Hard 2” and 1995’s “Die Hard With a Vengeance” — have high rewatchability (even 2007’s “Live Free or Die Hard” has its defenders). Then there’s 2013’s “A Good Day to Die Hard,” as bad a movie as there could possibly be. Taking place in Russia for seemingly no better reason than tax purposes, it dumbs down the wit and charm of the original films while failing to even deliver exciting action set pieces.
Reviews were abysmal, with Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal writing, “For anyone who remembers the ‘Die Hard’ adventures at their vital and exciting best, this film feels like a near-death experience.”
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Rasha Bukvić, Cole Hauser
- Director: John Moore
- Rating: R
- Runtime: 98 minutes
- Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
The Hangover Part II
In “The Hangover Part II,” it’s been two years since the Wolfpack almost lost Doug (Justin Bartha) during his Vegas bachelor party, and Stu (Ed Helms) is playing things safe as he prepares to tie the knot in Thailand. Rather than indulge in some alcohol-fueled bash, he settles on an IHOP brunch with Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Teddy (Mason Lee), a 16-year-old Stanford scholar.
After having a few beers, the gang awakens to find Stu has a face tattoo, Alan has shaved his head, and Teddy is missing. After finding out that Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) had something to do with this, the boys try to track down Teddy before Stu’s fiancée, Lauren (Sasha Barrese), finds out.
When it was released in 2009, “The Hangover” defied expectations to become a critical and commercial hit that won the Golden Globe for best comedy/musical film. A sequel was fast-tracked, with Todd Phillips returning to the director’s chair and “The Hangover Part II” arriving in 2011. Suffice it to say, the movie’s rushed quality comes across in every scene, as critics were happy to point out. “‘The Hangover Part II’ sees the same ingredients shaken up in the kaleidoscope, but a less attractive and far less amusing pattern emerges,” wrote Phillip French in The Guardian.
- Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Jeffrey Tambor, Justin Bartha, Paul Giamatti
- Director: Todd Phillips
- Rating: R
- Runtime: 101 minutes
- Where to watch: Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV
Independence Day: Resurgence
20 years after an alien invasion interrupted America’s Fourth of July celebration, the members of the United Nations have joined forces to create the Earth Space Defense force to prevent another extraterrestrial attack. ESD director David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) is dismayed to learn that the alien invaders are planning another assault, this one more deadly than the first. When the invaders arrive, a group of brave humans led by Levinson, former US President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), and ESD pilot Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) band together to save Earth from destruction.
Although it was as junky as movies get, the first “Independence Day” benefited from some big special effects set pieces and even bigger performances by its all-star ensemble, becoming the highest grossing film of 1996. Considering its cultural impact, it’s surprising it took director Roland Emmerich 20 years to assemble most of the cast (with Will Smith notably absent) for 2016’s “Independence Day: Resurgence,” but given its nuclear critical and commercial reception, they probably should have waited another 20 (even Emmerich expressed dissatisfaction with the finished product).
“You can forgive ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ for being ridiculous — its predecessor was too. But you can’t forgive it for being boring,” wrote Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine, a damning critique of a mindless summer blockbuster if ever there was one.
- Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Judd Hirsch
- Director: Roland Emmerich
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
Sex and the City 2
With Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristen Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) all married and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) fighting off menopause, the “Sex and the City” gang decides a little girls trip is just what they need to prove they’re still thriving. Working for an Arab sheikh, Samantha is gifted an all-expenses-paid luxury trip to Abu Dhabi, and invites her three best friends to come along with her. Upon arriving in the desert, the Manhattanite quartet suddenly find themselves clashing with the customs and traditions of their destination.
Clocking in at 147 minutes, “Sex and the City 2” is an hour shorter than “Lawrence of Arabia” yet feels twice as long. Perhaps more surprisingly, the portrayal of the Middle East is more retrograde and offensive in this 2011 comedy than it is in that 1962 Oscar-winner (which, need we remind you, featured white actors in brown makeup).
Bigotry aside, this sitcom adaptation feels more unnecessary and bloated than its predecessor, which the rancid reviews reflected. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called it, “An enervated, crass and gruesomely caricatured trip to nowhere [that] seems conceived primarily to find new and more cynical ways to abuse the loyalty of its audience,” which puts it in line with the critically-reviled revival series, “And Just Like That…”
- Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis, Cynthia Nixon, John Corbett, Chris Noth
- Director: Michael Patrick King
- Rating: R
- Runtime: 147 minutes
- Where to watch: HBO Max, Prime Video, Apple TV
Star Wars: Episode 9 — The Rise of Skywalker
After being slain by Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) is resurrected and intent on revenge. Palpatine’s granddaughter, Rey, has been trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and is gearing up for her confrontation with her cousin, First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Meanwhile, Kylo’s mother, Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), leads the Resistance with the help of Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), as the First Order plots to create a new evil Empire.
The road that brought “Star Wars: Episode 9 — The Rise of Skywalker” to the screen was famously windy and rocky, with original director Colin Trevorrow getting replaced by “The Force Awakens” helmer J. J. Abrams following creative differences. Add to that all the retconning and reconfiguring to satisfy fans who negatively reacted to Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi,” and this 2019 grand finale to the most lucrative sci-fi franchise in history comes off as a whimper, not a bang.
“‘Rise of Skywalker’ simply feels like a shrug of the shoulders and a march into the expected,” wrote Adam Graham of the Detroit News, which sums up the overall critical response to perhaps the most meh-inspiring “Star Wars” movie ever made.
- Cast: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams
- Director: J. J. Abrams
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 141 minutes
- Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
Taken 2
Two years after saving his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), from kidnappers, retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is in Istanbul trying to reconnect with his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen), while teaching Kim lessons in self-defense. His hopes for an idyllic retirement are disrupted by the arrival of Murad (Rade Šerbedžija), whose son was one of the henchmen killed by Mills while on his previous mission. Mills and his wife are taken hostage by Murad, leaving it up to Kim to put her new fighting skills to the test.
Released in 2008, the first “Taken” wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it was an entertaining enough piece of Euro-trash that helped turn Neeson into a late-in-life action star. The 2012 followup, “Taken 2,” meanwhile, seems to exist for no better reason than its predecessor made a ton of money (and indeed, this entry did gross enough to justify 2015’s “Taken 3”).
Even defenders of the first film’s cheap thrills couldn’t praise this one, as many reviewers pointed out that director Olivier Megaton seemingly remembered the cheap part and forgot the thrills. “So lazily put together that it relies on flashbacks from its predecessor for the majority of its character development,” said Dana Stevens of Slate, which sums up how much of an afterthought this feels like.
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Šerbedžija, Leland Orser, Jon Gries
- Director: Olivier Megaton
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 92 minutes
- Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV
Terminator Genisys
In the year 2029, humans have launched a final assault against Skynet, the artificial intelligence system which seeks to eliminate them. Resistance leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) to the year 1984 to save his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator that has been sent to the past to kill her before he can be born.
When Kyle arrives, however, he finds the timeline has been completely jumbled. Sarah isn’t some helpless waitress, but rather a tough-as-nails resistance fighter with a Terminator of her own (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Together, this trio works to ensure John will be born and save the human race from extinction.
“Terminator” sequels post-1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” have struggled to live up to the heights of that James Cameron action spectacle, and 2015’s “Terminator Genisys” is a real low point (the bottom-of-the-barrel “Terminator Salvation” was saved from this list by being released in 2009). “Genisys” was savaged by critics who found its scrambling of the continuity a muddled and incoherent attempt to fix what wasn’t broken. “One achievement of James Cameron’s ‘Terminator’ is that it overcame its low-rent, B-movie trappings. The great sin of ‘Genisys’ is that it costs millions and yet isn’t worth a dime,” wrote Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News.
- Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Matt Smith, Courtney B. Vance
- Director: Alan Taylor
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 126 minutes
- Where to watch: Paramount+, Prime Video, Apple TV
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
After she’s hit with cosmic energy during an outer space rescue mission, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) returns to Earth with enhanced telekinetic powers. As her powers make her increasingly unstable, she finds herself at odds with her fellow X-Men, including Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), who suppressed a damaging memory from Jean’s childhood that’s rearing its ugly head again. The X-Men try desperately to save Jean while also battling a shape-shifting alien race led by the nefarious Margaret Smith (Jessica Chastain), aka Vuk.
The “X-Men” series experienced many ups and downs throughout the 2010s, from the highs of 2011’s “First Class” and 2014’s “Days of Future Past” to the lows of 2016’s “Apocalypse.” Yet nothing compares to 2019’s “Dark Phoenix,” a grand finale to the prequel series that plays like an afterthought. (In a rare moment of industry candor, director Simon Kinberg took the blame for the film’s critical and commercial failure.)
Bad reviews reflected the collective shrug that seemed to permeate throughout the making of the movie’s production from script to screen, which translated to a disastrous box office tally. Matthew Norman of the London Evening Standard called it, “A stupendously dull series-ender without a shred of wit, narrative thrust or genuine emotional force.”
- Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Evan Peters
- Director: Simon Kinberg
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 113 minutes
- Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV
Zoolander 2
After years in seclusion, former models Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel McDonald (Owen Wilson) re-emerge to attend the House of Atoz fashion show in Rome. While there, they meet Agent Valentine Valencia (Penélope Cruz) of Interpol’s fashion division, who’s investigating a string of pop star murders. Valentina recruits the dimwitted Zoolander and Hansel to track down the killer before they can kill any more beautiful famous people (including, of course, the two of them).
While the original “Zoolander” became something of a cult classic, the same fate likely won’t befall “Zoolander 2.” True, the first film was greeted with mixed reviews when it was released in 2001, but they weren’t nearly as toxic as the ones that greeted the 2016 followup. It seems that 15 years wasn’t long enough to come up with a comprehensible sequel that didn’t play like a scattershot retread of the first.
Even a laundry list of celebrity cameos (including Billy Zane, Sting, and Ariana Grande) couldn’t save the film from flopping at the box office. (To top it all off, the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as a nonbinary model named All has aged like milk.) “‘Zoolander 2’ takes pains to reference every successful gag you remember from the original, and then embellish them in painful, often offensive, almost always outdated fashion,” wrote David Sims in The Atlantic.
- Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penélope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Benedict Cumberbatch
- Director: Ben Stiller
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 102 minutes
- Where to watch: Prime Video, Apple TV