Too Many Unneccesary Sequels?

Question

It seems these days that if a movie makes even a little bit of money, they have to put out a sequel, and 90% of them suck. I especially hate when they go and make a sequel to a movie that came out 10 or 15 years ago. Quit ruining good movies! Am I alone here? Look at this list of lame or disappointing sequels that've come out over the last few years...

Shrek the Third
Terminator 3
Jurassic Park 3
Rocky Balboa
American Wedding
Saw 2
Saw 3
Legally Blonde 2
Miss Congeniality 2
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Superman Returns
Clerks 2
Be Cool
Jason X
Halloween Resurrection
The Ring 2
Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
Son Of The Mask
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Anyalyze That
The Whole 10 Yards
Friday After Next
Ocean's 12
Ocean's 13
Men In Black 2
Bad Boys 2
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Meet The Fockers
Scooby Doo 2
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigaloe
XXX: State of the Union
2 Fast 2 Furious
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
...the list goes on

Answer 1

I agree. It is just a money grabbing tactic. Prequels annoy me even more. Sometimes the story that I imagine about what happened after or before a movie is much better than what the script writers come up with. Best to leave well enough alone. If it ain't broke don't fix it. They should have a rule: If its a cheap sequeal/prequel just release it direct to DVD. Don't clog up the movie theaters (at $10 a pop) with all the crappy movies with B-list actors. I would love to be in a major movie studios focus group so I could give them a piece of my mind.

Answer 2

I agree that most sequels are not as good as the first one. Of your list, I must say I liked Tokyo Drift better than the first Fast and the Furious movie. You don't see drift racing in movies much so it was refreshing to see. I also thought Paul Walker's character's story was more interesting than the ones in the previous movies. The only other sequels I can think of that were better than the first one are

Star Wars Episode VI The Empire Strikes Back
Lord of the Rings Return of the King (best of the three I think)
Die Another Day (best of the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies)
Casino Royale (best Bond movie made since Dr. No)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (as good as the other two were this one is way better)

granted the list of superior sequels is shorter, but I think it's unfair to say that all sequels are worse than the original. Usually, the best sequels are ones that finish the story from the first movie where the film makers intentionally spread the story out over several films. I agree that sequels that are made just because the first one did well are not good. When a single movie stands on its own and has a satisfying ending they shouldn't make sequels of it. Pirates of the Carribean is a good example. The first one had a nice ending and could have stood on its own without the other two movies. Yes, a few things were left unresolved, but they were window dressing compared to the central plot. We didn't really need to meet Davy Jones or actually find Will's father for example. Davy Jones's Locker is a well known pirate and sailor turn of phrase for the bottom of the sea where sunken ships and their crew wind up. We didn't need to see the weird monstrosity that the film makers came up with to personify it. At the end of the film, the curse of the Black Pearl is lifted and Will gets the girl. What more did we really need?

Answer 3

Actually your right. I just saw shrek 3 yesterday and it had its funny parts but most of the movie dragged a bit. Some movies do need sequels to finish because the first one didnt end right, but according to your list many all of those are pretty lame and shouldn't have been produced. Well i guess sometimes the producers feel that if they can come up with something new even if its just adding a new character then they can make a whole lot of money with a sequel.

Answer 4

I rather see a sequel to my favorite movie...I think with movies its a lil easier to come back with some thing just as good. With music yea you would like to hear the same quality but music is always having to keep up with the times and etc that its hard to come back with something similar n still be as good as the first. SET IT OFF wish that was able to have a part 2 or the Skeleton Key that's pretty possible.

Answer 5

not to mention all the Disney straight-to-DVD-sequels crap they've been pulling!!

Hunchback of Notre Dame 2
Tarzan 2
Tarzan and Jane
Jungle Book 2
Cinderella 2 and 3
all the Lilo and Stitch sequels
Peter Pan- Return to Neverland
Tinker Bell
Little Mermaid 2 and now 3
Lion King 2 was good but 1 1/2 sucked...
Two Aladdin sequels
series and sequel for Emperor's New Groove
Bambi 2
Fox and the Hound 2

Answer 6

YESSS!!!!
It's ridiculous! Why can't people come up with any new ideas? And it's awful when a great film is ruined by some lame sequel, just wanting to make money. And don't forget all those awful remakes of good movies, it's just as bad!

Answer 7

Damn... thats a list.
I guess they want more money or maybe they liked making the first movie and have trouble moving on.