Few movies truly need a sequel. The reality is, however, that when a film makes it big at the box office—it’s fairly certain that it will have a sequel, whether die-hard fans want them or not.
Sequels might not have the best interest of the story world at heart, but one can’t deny that they work to bring people back out of the woodwork and into their local cinema. According to Reddit, here are eight of many films that shouldn’t have had a sequel but did—from Jaws to Dirty Dancing and everything you could imagine in between.
‘Jaws’ (1975)
Fact is, a Great White shark is extremely rare in the waters that are present in New England. The chances of one shark, let alone two, paying a visit is extremely rare and unlikely, but Jaws 2 will try and convince you otherwise—failing to top the impressive slow burn that is Jaws.
Not to mention Jaws 3-D and Jaws: The Revenge, all of which surpass any suspension of disbelief and quite simply don’t make sense. The films tended to deepen a preexisting misunderstanding of Great White, with them being painted as absolute monsters in the public eye—multiple sequels did nothing but perpetuate this.
‘The Exorcist’ (1973)
The first film was great—and it definitely should’ve stopped there. Exorcist ll: The Heretic (1973) was a solid attempt at being a metaphysical thriller, but it clashed with the blockbuster adaptation of the novel itself, leading to an inevitable flop at the box office.
Multiple reboots and remakes were attempted, such as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist being re-shot to become Exorcist: The Beginning, neither of which is a solid watch, and as they desperately tried to capitalize on the success of the initial film, with little to no success. However, The Exorcist III: Legion, directed by The Excorcist's author William Peter Blatty, falls more in line with the first film and has developed a cult following.
‘Die Hard’ (1988)
When Die Hard spawned a franchise, this wasn’t necessarily a problem—it was more so that the wrong franchise was inspired. Popular opinion dictates that the sequels should’ve primarily focused on the charm of John McClane (Bruce Willis) instead of transforming his character into something unrecognizable.
Die Hard with a Vengeance comes close to mimicking the magic of McClane on screen, but this doesn’t last long. All other sequels fail to recreate his charm, leading to a lackluster viewing experience for fans of the Irish-American detective.
‘Anchorman’ (2004)
With Adam McKay’s Anchorman a smash comedy success as a mainstream-absurdist delight, it makes sense to want to produce a sequel and capitalize on the tackiness of the 1970s yet again—a cultivation of comedic genius from a duo producing comedy that was independent of their SNL work at the time.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is scattershot, which is incredibly frustrating for fans of the first film and fans of McKay’s work combined. Wake Up, Run Burgundy, the second feature on DVD for the first film, received more positive reviews than its sequel counterpart, which is evidence enough of its flop nature.
‘Home Alone’ (1990)
The cult classic filled with amazing, clever traps, left, right, and center, remains one of the unexpected box office smash hits of all time. It topped the box office in November 1990, its opening weekend, and stayed in the top spot until February 1991, being the third-highest grossing film when its theatrical run ceased.
While Home Alone 2: Lost in New York managed to retain its original cast and most of its original charm, the following two sequels lost a lot of what made them special—the relationship between all the characters, the boyish charm, and the feel-good nature that was just lacking in these final two sequels.
‘Saturday Night Fever’ (1997)
When Paramount finally decided to make a sequel for its 1997 pop-culture smash hit, disco was pretty much dead. Regardless, the studio managed to produce a sequel that brought the dance-crazed Tony Manero (John Travolta) to Broadway, with Sylvester Stallone to write and direct.
Staying Alive, unfortunately, seems extremely musical tone-deaf—shedding light on how looked down upon they may have been at the time by the cast and crew. It’s a difficult watch, even for the biggest Saturday Night Fever fans, and its ratings and box office performance reflects this.
‘Crocodile Dundee’ (1986)
Paramount back at it again—this time with a fish-out-of-water comedy that ended up becoming the second-highest grossing film of 1986—especially with an unknown cast at the time. The film is still charming, albeit slightly problematic, but the sequel is a completely different story.
Crocodile Dundee II couldn’t replicate the success of the original Crocodile Dundee, with a baffling plot surrounding vicious South American drug deals. To top it off, in 2001, a second sequel was made—Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, which was even more jarring and made even less sense.
‘Dirty Dancing’ (1988)
Even the renowned Emile Ardolino smash hit, Dirty Dancing received a sequel. With Johnny (Patrick Swayze) and Baby (Jennifer Grey) stealing hearts all around the world, they came back for the sequel—or rather, prequel—Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Based on a preexisting script, the movie comes across as nonsensical and poorly written, which puts strain on the brilliant, timeless performances by Swayze and Grey. It’s safe to say that Dirty Dancing should’ve stopped at the one - with this script having never seen the light of day.