Why are most sequels to movies really bad or not as good as the first?

Question

does it have something to do with the way our minds work?

Answer 1

My opinion is that the original movie was an original idea and storyline. The original is nearly always the one that sticks in your mind and when you see a sequel you compare. It is usually hard to duplicate a success. In most cases. expectations are more often than not shattered by the makers trying to build on an original idea and failing.

Answer 2

There are several reasons. At least one, as you say, is because of how our minds work, we often have very high expectations, and think a lot of movies won't match their original. But I think there is another, usually more convincing reason.

Many sequels are made because the original was really successful and brough in a lot of money and is simply trying to cash in on the brand name power of the original. If you were a movie producer, would you green light (approve) a risky but interesting sounding original movie or a sequel to a movie that came out a few months ago and raked in $200 million plus on ticket sales, and is bringing big money in on DVD sales too? The latter is the safer bet, because everybody recognizes the name, and even if the sequel ends up being bad, usually a lot of people will still go and see it because they want to see how the story continuse, or they have high hopes since they loved the first.

This is why a lot of people say sequels are sell outs or are "just for the money." It's true that over 95% of movies are actually made just to bring in money (some others may be for such things like bringing in oscars to help highlight performers or they're actually purely an artistic product of a director's vision), espcially if they're the entertainment/blockbuster kind. However, when you have an original idea, without any pre-existing name brand, there is lots of incentive to make the movie good or at least popular and accessible to a wide audience, to be able to bring in as much money as possible. When you make a sequel, that's less important, because as I said before, a lot of people are already hyped to see it (a good trailer for a sequel helps build more buzz too, as does merchandizing).

Lastly, there are a few sequels that are regarding as very good. Look at the Lord of the Rings movies, all three are loved about equally, and almost the same with the original Star Wars trilogy (a lot of people don't like Return of the Jedi due to ewoks or something, though). The stories for these movies were planned out in advanced, and in the case of Lord of the Rings they were filmed in the same time and based on three pre-existing books so they're of much more uniform quality. The same can be said for the Harry Potter movies (the books were all planned around the same time, and they're the source material for the movies, though which Harry Potter movie one likes more usually depends on which director's style one likes more).

Also, some sequels are weaker since not all of the original cast, or the original writer, director, proucer, etc. can be gotten to work on the project, so you have weaker creative input going in.

Answer 3

Nope, it is the way that Hollywood works. Many times a movie will come out and everyone loves it. The accountants in Hollywood see this and want to make more money off of it. A script is quickly put together and a movie is hastely put together. These movies are usually done with less quality than the first because they are not done with making a good movie in mind. They are made with the hopes of cashing in.

There are some exceptions. These are when the sequals are made with the same vision as the first movies. There are even times when the sequal outshines the original. "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" is superior to "Star Wars: A New Hope" in many ways because George Lucas had a greater budget to work with. He, however, stuck with his vision.

Answer 4

After you see a really good movie, you set your expectations too high for the sequel. They almost always let you down.

Answer 5

They usually try and steal a lot of the same things from the first movie because thats what they laughed about the first time around, but the need to really just have new things and they dont realize it. And usually its either by different writers, directors or have different actors playing the parts.

Answer 6

I guess the plot just feels a little mutilated and overused the second time around, but there's always exceptions.