15 Sequels We Could Have Done Without
![15 Sequels We Could Have Done Without](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/6/817986_320x180.jpg)
Sequels are a tricky business. Sometimes they add genuine depth to a world, or act as another chapter in an amazing story. Otherwise they deflate the narrative arc of the initial movie, or just come off as cheap and cynical attempts to cash in on the success of the previous movie. It's always a roll of the dice.
With that in mind, we wanted to explore more than a dozen sequels we frankly could have done without. These are films that just didn't land for us, or worse, ruined our idea of the whole franchise.
For example, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The original Indiana Jones movies were near perfect cinematic adventures. While the 4th installment sure made a lot of money, what it cost was the flawless legacy of the first three films.
We know a movie’s success breeds sequels. Sometimes the execution is way off, and sometimes the story doesn’t even warrant a sequel, but the money making machine keeps chuggin’. Whether it was number 2, 3, or 4, these 15 sequels were one too many!
![SPIDER-MAN 3 CRACKED.COM Critics call Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) & Spider-Man 2 (2004) some of the best superhero films ever made. In Spider-Man 3, Raimi was forced to add villains, Topher Grace was painfully miscast as Venom, and Spidey's jazz/emo phase had the trilogy's Rotten Tomatoes score read: 90, 93, 63.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/0/0/818000.jpg)
Source: Looper
![HOME ALONE 3 CRACKED.COM To this day, Home Alone has grossed half a billion dollars. Some fans say Lost in New York was one too many, but it had Macaulay Culkin, the original cast, and it plays just as much around Christmas. Anyone not on the Home Alone money train could do without 3, 4, 5 and a 6th in 2021!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/4/817994.jpg)
Source: Hitc
![KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL CRACKED COM Fans thought 1989's Last Crusade was the, well... Last Crusade, because they rode off into the sunset! 19 years later, 2008's Crystal Skull made some people tons of money (grossing 790 mill), but poor CGI, aliens, the nuke & the fridge, and South Park's perfect critique, keep it far from the first 3.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/6/817996.jpg)
Source: Screenrant
![SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL CRACKED.COM Critics and audiences loved 1994's Speed, and it obviously made a ton of money (grossing 300 mill) or it wouldn't have warranted a sequel. The sequel failed in every way by replacing Keanu Reeves with Jason Patric, and setting Speed on a slow-moving cruise ship.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/0/1/818001.jpg)
Source: cbr
![CADDYSHACK 2 CRACKED.COM Did you know it existed? 1980's Caddyshack is a comedy classic. It wasn't an initial success, but it slowly grew into a cult classic, warranting a sequel in 1988. With no Rodney Dangerfield, no Bill Murray, and a family friendly PG-rating, this forgettable flop has a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/2/817992.jpg)
Source: rottentomatoes
![SON OF THE MASK CRACKED.COM 1994's The Mask gave us Jim Carrey's cartoonish brilliance, and luckily we got so much more of him over the next decade, because he was sadly missed in 2005's Son of the Mask. The awful script, effects, and Jamie Kennedy's performance paled in comparison.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/1/817991.jpg)
Source: cbr
![MEAN GIRLS 2 CRACKED.COM Be honest, did you know there was a Mean Girls 2? Premiering on ABC Family, then direct-to-video, the few unfortunate viewers saw a reboot with worse characters, and no connection to the original (other than Tim Meadows as the principal).](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/7/817997.jpg)
Source: Buzzfeed
![MULAN 2 CRACKED.COM Having gained the respect of her family and country, the story of Mulan had a perfect ending. Proving Mulan didn't need a sequel, it focused mainly on her romance with Li Shang, perpetuating the old Disney trope that it really is all about getting the guy.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/9/817999.jpg)
Source: Buzzfeed
![AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 CRACKED.COM Patrick Bateman is murdered by a 12 year old girl who then kills innocent people to try and become an FBI agent, so she can help save lives by stopping other serial killers. One of the worst sequels of all time, we're left wondering why American Psycho even needed a sequel.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/9/817989.jpg)
Source: slashfilm
![EVERY JAWS SEQUEL CRACKED.COM Steven Spielberg cites Jaws as his hardest directorial challenge, by far. It's easy to believe when we see how far each sequel came from recreating the magic. The decline told through rotten tomatoes is... Jaws: 98%, Jaws 2: 61%, Jaws 3-D: 11%, and Jaws The Revenge: 0%.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/5/817995.jpg)
Source: rottentomatoes
![BLADE: TRINITY CRACKED.COM The first 2 Blade films laid the critical and financial groundwork for the modern superhero boom. It all went wrong in #3, Blade: Trinity. Studio feuds with Snipes, and a director swap resulted in a disappointing conclusion to the trilogy, and character.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/0/817990.jpg)
Source: Looper
![ON STRANGER TIDES CRACKED.COM The 3rd film wasn't the best, but it wrapped up the trilogy nicely. Without Orlando Bloom & Keira Knightley, critics say this 4th installment, and obvious cash-grab, forced in new characters, and the previously iconic Jack Sparrow came across as a tired caricature.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/8/817998.jpg)
Source: Buzzfeed
![ZOOLANDER 2 GRACKED.COM A critic who prides himself on sitting through anything walked out. The sequel undid the heart of the original, opening on the center for kids who can't read good burning down, Matilda dying, and Derek being a neglectful father. Many were offended by Benedict Cumberbatch's caricature of a transgendered model.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/0/2/818002.jpg)
Source: Cinemablend
![THE GODFATHER III CRACKED.COM 1 and 2 meld so perfectly together that HBO released 7.5 hour The Godfather Еріс, featuring both films (and deleted scenes) cut together in chronological order. The incest storyline and Sofia Coppola's performance usually has 3 excluded from the conversation all together.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/3/817993.jpg)
Source: indiewire
![X-MEN: THE LAST STAND CRACKED.COM The first 2 X-Men films were critical and financial successes, and gave us Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. The 3rd was rushed, and scheduling conflicts lead to strange character rewrites, tanking what could have been a solid trilogy. X-Men: First Class got X-Men back on track 5 years later.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/0/0/3/818003.jpg)
Source: Looper