Every movie that’s a box-office hit has the potential to spawn a sequel, maybe even a whole franchise. Sometimes it’s planned, in the case of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Marvel Saga, where a whole series of movies are involved. Other times the sequels are prompted by the success of the first film, which gave us iconic multi-title sagas like The Matrix and Star Wars.
A successful film doesn’t guarantee that the sequel will be as beloved, in fact, sometimes the sequel to a popular film ends up being a colossal failure. The previous stars hate the movie’s new script or refuse to show up for even a cameo for various reasons, the budget is cut, or the script keeps changing. There are plenty of sad stories in the Walmart bargain bin that started out as blockbuster hits or famous franchises but fell apart when their sequels failed miserably. Here are a few of them, and the numbers cited are courtesy of the good folks at Box Office Mojo and The Numbers.com.
10 The Mask (1994)
Audiences were pleasantly surprised by The Mask, which wasn’t intended to get the attention it did. The movie included a Jim Carrey fresh from his breakthrough role as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, another smash hit, and the cast included other stars like Cameron Diaz and Peter Greene. It only cost about $23 million dollars to make and grossed over $350 million, making it the second-most profitable movie based on a comic book after Superman up to that time. There was instantly the talk of a sequel, but things never fell into place with the previous stars, most notably Carrey. After years of development hell, Son of the Mask was released in 2005, it was a total commercial failure and barely made $60 million with the same budget as the first one.
9 Predator (1987)
Looking back, maybe it was lightning in a bottle, as none of the games, movies, or other various properties in this now-massive franchise have ever captured the same sense of terrifying wonder as the original. Critics didn’t care for the original 1987 film, but fans embraced this action-horror voraciously, and the stellar cast that included Arnold Schwarzenegger the height of his powers along with other iconic action heroes of the time.
With a budget of $15 million and a box office gross of $100 million, Predator had a ridiculous profit margin that had all the right people hoping for a sequel. Predator 2 also had a star-studded cast, but changing the setting and making the story a lot more complex put the audience off, and it grossed only $59 million. Although the movie has stood the test of time and is now a cult-classic, it was still a box office failure compared to the original.
8 Basic Instinct (1992)
How many neo-noir erotic thrillers does Hollywood produce, anyway? That’s one of the things that made the original Basic Instinct such a smash hit. Even the script elicited bidding wars from various studios, and the gross at the end reflected a nice return on that investment with a worldwide gross of $352 million on a budget of less than $50 million.
The sequel included Sharon Stone but director Paul Verhoven wasn’t involved, nor were any other previous cast members, and after various delays and cuts Basic Instinct 2 was released in 2006 and only made about $300,000. The movie has an equally unfriendly rating from both viewers and critics.
7 Wall Street (1987)
It’s not just the cast, it’s the production team of this film that makes up some of Hollywood’s most famous names. Wall Street is a veritable time capsule of the best and brightest the industry had to offer in the 1980s. The movie was both critically acclaimed and financially successful, grossing more than $43 million at the box office with a budget of only $16 million. The sequel, Money Never Sleeps, was released in 2010 and although it made $134 million, it cost more than $70 million to make and fell well below studio expectations. It also didn’t come close to the critical acclaim of the original but it did have a strong opening gate, perhaps more due to nostalgia than anything else.
6 Carrie (1976)
In a decade that was saturated with some of the goriest and most visceral horror movies, Carrie took that trend to the next level. Besides becoming an iconic horror film with both critical and fan acclaim, the movie was also a huge financial success, making more than $30 million dollars on a budget of less than $2 million. It crosses over into high school drama as well as good old-fashioned occult, making it a famous entry in both categories. The sequel, Carrie 2: The Rage, was released in 1999 and only made $15 million on a budget of nearly twice that much and was a tired, boring rehash with none of the chilling horror, just a lot of annoying teenage angst.
5 Speed (1994)
A sleeper hit if there ever was one, Speed gave us Keanu Reeves as a believable acting hero and it was Sandra Bullock’s breakthrough role, so casting was part of the success. The film wasn’t easily a critical darling, but that didn’t stop fans from embracing the simple yet quirky premise and the roller coaster of action sequences that never quit.
That wasn’t all that blew producers’ minds. The movie made more than $350 million dollars but only cost around $30 million. Of course, a sequel was planned to cash in, and with no other stars besides Bullock reprising their role and a weird change of venue to a cruise ship, it was a critical and box office failure, making $164 million, only a bit more than it cost to make.
4 The Neverending Story (1984)
The 1980s gave audiences some great movies in the fantasy genre, and in a time before CGI, that was tough to accomplish. The NeverEnding Story was one of the most expensive movies made at the time with a budget of $27 million, but then it more than made up for that with a gross of $100 million. The sequel received a much poorer reception.
The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter was released in 1991 and only made $17 million dollars, not only a box office failure but also not exactly a fan favorite. The special effects and designs looked cheap and the plot included original elements from Michael Ende’s book but the storyline deviated from it completely. That alienated fans of the books and the previous film, who were too old for the material by then anyway.
3 Independence Day (1996)
The original movie rode a wave of CGI explosions to box office success, a concept that was fairly new at the time. The summer blockbuster made the impression that was intended, marking an end to the era of practical effects and making more than $800 million dollars with a budget of $75 million, making the initial investment well worth it.
Ironically, it was the budget that kept the sequels in development hell for the next two decades, as Fox refused to pay the $50 million salary that Will Smith requested. The sequel to Independence Day: Resurgence failed from a financial and marketing standpoint partly because his character didn’t return. Although the sequel made almost $400 million at the box office, it cost $165 million to make and was considered a financial failure compared to its predecessor.
2 The Blair Witch Project (1999)
It was partly the “found footage” concept in an age of YouTube influencers and viral videos that rocketed this movie to success and prompted a sequel along with an entire franchise. The profit margin of The Blair Witch Project surpassed any and all the dreams of every production manager ever, with a price tag of less than $500,000, the film grossed almost $250 million. The first direct sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 wasn’t a total flop, costing only $15 million and making almost $50 million worldwide, but it made nowhere near the money and didn’t generate half the hype as it’s predecessor.
1 The Original Superman Trilogy
Here’s a twist. How about the fourth installment in a trilogy that nobody asked for that’s such a box office failure, that it not only sinks the whole franchise, but it also scares everyone away from comic book movies for about a decade? The first and second movies in the original Superman trilogy were bonafide hits, with the third carrying a tidy profit even if it wasn’t exactly beloved by fans or critics. Superman IV, The Quest for Peace only made $15 million dollars on a budget that was only slightly more, $17 million, a paltry sum compared to the other films. It’s on some lists for the worst movies ever made, let alone the worst sequels.
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