For fans, seeing a beloved film grow into a franchise can be a thrilling thing. Many sequels allow audiences a chance to catch up with their favorite characters, and to see new stories play out in familiar worlds. Unfortunately, not every sequel is guaranteed to be at the same level of quality as its predecessor.
Some franchises, like Star Wars and Terminator, experience ups and downs, with some of their sequels being the best in their respective series, and others being the worst. But other series start on a high note before steadily growing worse with each entry. These franchises eventually make fans question why their favorite film even got a sequel in the first place.
10 The Original ‘Hellraiser’ Franchise
Latest Release: ‘Hellraiser: Judgment’ (2018)
Clive Barker‘s Hellraiser is one of the best horror films of all time. It features some fantastic performances from Sean Chapman and Clare Higgins as Frank and Julia Cotton, a unique and interesting story, and practical effects that are still some of the best in the business despite the film being over 30 years old. Hellbound: Hellraiser II was a slight step below its predecessor, but from that point on it just got worse and worse.
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth was an inoffensive addition to the series, though it was the first entry not to focus on original final girl Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence). Hellraiser: Bloodline was the series’ last theatrical release, with its director refusing to take credit, using the famous Alan Smithee pseudonym instead. After Bloodline, the series saw four direct-to-video releases with original Pinhead Doug Bradley, each worse than the last. Bradley was then replaced for two more films in the 2010s, which were appropriately disappointing for the series. The first film is great, but its legacy has been completely tarnished by its sequels.
Hellraiser is available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.
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9 The ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ Trilogy
Latest Release: ‘Smokey and the Bandit Part 3’ (1983)
One of Hollywood’s most prominent stars in the 1970s and early ’80s was Burt Reynolds. Reynolds led a number of hits, including The Longest Yard and The Cannonball Run, but the most successful film that the actor starred in was 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit, a road comedy which sees Reynolds’ Bo Darville, also known as the Bandit, on the run from Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) as he attempts to smuggle booze across state lines with the assistance of Cledus Snow (Jerry Reed) and Carrie (Sally Field).
Smokey and the Bandit was a success because of the fantastic chemistry between Reynolds and Fields, along with the comedic talents of Gleason. The second film played out much like the first, doubling down on its strengths, but suffering from being too familiar to audiences. Unfortunately, Reynolds would not lead the series’ third entry, only appearing for a small cameo. Instead, Gleason was promoted to lead, with the movie revolving around Buford T. Justice’s pursuit of Cledus, who spends the film impersonating Reynolds’ Bandit. It is a far weaker film than its predecessors, lacking Reynolds’ charm and overdoing Gleason’s comedic antics, forever staining the series’ legacy.
8 ‘The Hangover’ Trilogy
Latest Release: ‘The Hangover Part III’ (2013)
Back in 2009, the first Hangover was a crowd-pleasing raunchy comedy that stood out from its contemporaries. The comedic chemistry between leads Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Ed Helms was superb, and the film featured some of the most iconic bits of the era, including one scene where Mike Tyson sings along to Phil Collins‘ “In the Air Tonight”. It was also a huge box office success, and as such, a sequel was released two years later.
Unfortunately, The Hangover Part II was a letdown when compared to its predecessor. It felt like a lazy retread of the first film, rehashing a number of jokes along the way, compounding the feeling that it was more of the same. Then, The Hangover Part III featured a dramatic tonal shift that featured shockingly few laughs, and just didn’t work for the series. In the end, The Hangover would have been remembered better as a fun one-off.
7 David Gordon Green’s ‘Halloween’ Trilogy
Latest Release: ‘Halloween Ends’ (2022)
Upon its release, 2018’s Halloween was the best received Halloween movie in years. For decades, fans had been disappointed by movies like Halloween: Resurrection, in which Michael Myers (Brad Loree) is beaten in a fight by a character played by Busta Rhymes, but Halloween finally felt like a return to the series’ roots. Critical reception was positive, and many felt that it was the best sequel in the long-running series. As such, fans were excited when it was revealed that the team behind Halloween would helm two follow-ups; Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.
Unfortunately, while Halloween felt like a throwback to much of what made the 1978 film work, its two sequels were a horrible reminder of what made the rest of the series so notoriously inconsistent. Kills takes place on the same night as its predecessor and almost completely sidelines Jamie Lee Curtis‘ Laurie Strode in favor of giving Michael (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle) the spotlight with his grisliest kills yet. It has some memorable moments, but it lacks an interesting plot to thread those moments together, making it a disappointing follow-up to the 2018 film. Ends was even worse, sidelining both Michael and Laurie to focus on Corey (Rohan Campbell), a young man who Michael mentors for part of the film. It’s a jarring final act that doesn’t live up to the potential of the first film in the trilogy.
6 ‘The Matrix’ Series
Latest Release: ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ (2021)
The Matrix is one of the best sci-fi action films of all time. It heavily popularized both gun fu and bullet time, and dazzled audiences with its gripping action choreography and cutting edge visual effects. Following its successful theatrical release, two Matrix sequels were put into production.
The first, The Matrix Reloaded, was released in 2003 and saw the Wachowskis take advantage of their increased budget by crafting some of the series’ most famous action scenes. Unfortunately, while the action was good, the second Matrix wasn’t anywhere near as groundbreaking as the first, allowing the series’ flaws to show more clearly than they had before. Those flaws came to the forefront in The Matrix Revolutions, released six months later. Revolutions disappointed fans with its conclusion to Neo’s (Keanu Reeves) story, and had the franchise’s least memorable action scenes up to that point. In 2021, Lana Wachowskiattempted to give Neo a better ending with The Matrix Resurrections, but it proved to be a disappointing legacy sequel that only resurrected the series’ worst traits.
5 The ‘Insidious’ Franchise
Latest Release: ‘Insidious: The Red Door’ (2023)
The first Insidious was a solid horror movie released worldwide in 2011, right as supernatural horror films were becoming trendy. Two years later, as the trend had established itself more with the success of films like Sinister and The Conjuring, Insidious: Chapter 2 was released as an interesting, though slightly inferior, continuation. It may not have been as effective as its predecessor, but it was still a decent horror film in its own right, particularly due to the return of Patrick Wilson as Josh Lambert.
But from there, the series floundered. It abandoned the Lambert family in the third entry, shifting the focus to Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), a woman who helped the Lamberts in the first two films. From the third film on, the series also becomes light on scares, while the plots become increasingly tedious and repetitive. They tried to inject some life back into the series with its fifth entry, Insidious: The Red Door, which brought back Wilson, who also made his directorial debut on the film, but ultimately, it just proved how soulless the series had become.
4 The ‘Die Hard’ Series
Latest Release: ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ (2013)
The original Die Hard is one of the most influential action films of all time. It introduced fans of the genre to Bruce Willis, which had the unintended effect of popularizing more relatable action heroes who had a sense of humor, and showed pain and even fear. It also featured one of cinema’s best villains in Alan Rickman‘s Hans Gruber. Following the success of the first movie, and the subsequent stardom of Willis, it came as no surprise when Die Hard 2 was released two years later.
Die Hard 2 ended up feeling exactly like the first film, only this time primarily set in an airport, which was fine, but unexciting. But, despite its lack of originality, the sequel was another success, leading to the eventual release of Die Hard with a Vengeance, which saw the return of original director John McTiernan, while also bringing Samuel L. Jackononboard as Willis’ sidekick. The third entry was fun, but the warning signs for the franchise were present, with the plot growing increasingly mindless. 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard doubled down on this approach, and while it had its moments, it paled in comparison to its predecessors. A Good Day to Die Hard was its worst entry, serving as a weak sendoff to one of action’s most beloved franchises.
3 The ‘Rambo’ Series
Latest Release: ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ (2019)
It’s easy to forget just how different First Blood is from the rest of the Rambo films. While Sylvester Stallone‘s John Rambo would go on to become one of the biggest icons of flashy, turn-your-brain-off ’80s action cinema, the first film was shockingly grounded, telling a tense, small-scale story about a traumatized Vietnam War veteran who goes on a violent run from the law after having his PTSD triggered by several abusive officers. It’s a genuinely great film, with a fantastic performance by Stallone, that would have been a perfect stand-alone.
But unfortunately, First Blood was a massive success, and as a result, John Rambo was soon thrown back into combat in Rambo: First Blood Part II. The series’ second film is a fine enough action film, but it lacks the depth of the first, and sees the series begin to teeter into territory that makes it feel more like propaganda than an actual film. This trend continued as the series saw more releases. Even after the long hiatus between 1988’s Rambo III and 2008’s Rambo, the franchise failed to improve, seeing its critical low point with 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood.
2 The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Series
Latest Release: ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ (2017)
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise started off as a series of fun action adventure films with a memorable performance from Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. The Curse of the Black Pearl was an entertaining adventure, and while Dead Man’s Chest introduced many of the series’ worst traits, it was an enjoyable follow-up. The third film, At World’s End, was where the series really started to show its cracks. It’s a bloated mess with too many characters and far too much going on in its plot, hence why the following two films tried to almost completely wipe the slate clean.
Unfortunately, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales came off as half-hearted attempts to capitalize on the success of their predecessors. Depp’s performance began to lose a lot of its luster, particularly by the fifth film, and the new villains, Ian McShane‘s Blackbeard and Javier Bardem‘s Salazar, failed to make the impression that Bill Nighy had as Davy Jones in previous entries. Geoffrey Rush was consistently great as Barbossa, but his charisma wasn’t enough to keep the series’ critical reception from sinking deeper than Davy Jones’ locker.
1 The ‘Jurassic Park’ & ‘Jurassic World’ Franchise
Latest Release: ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (2022)
When Steven Spielberg‘s Jurassic Park originally released in 1993, it was an instant success that sparked a huge demand for sequels. Its first one, 1997’s The Lost World, also directed by Spielberg, failed to live up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessor, but it was still a decent movie. Unfortunately, the series continued to grow worse and worse, with entries that seemed to completely miss the point of the original.
Jurassic Park III was a flawed, but fun monster movie that lacked any substance, but 2015’s Jurassic World was where things really took a turn for the worse, serving as a bland retread of the original, while its sequels, Fallen Kingdom and Dominion are some of Hollywood’s worst blockbusters. While the original film emphasized strong character arcs, like the growing relationship between Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards), the World trilogy focused on the half-baked romantic relationship between leads Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, and dinosaur spectacle that treated the prehistoric wonders more like movie monsters than animals. Hopefully, Jurassic World Rebirth is able to end the franchise’s sour streak.
