If Hollywood is good at one thing, it’s taking a great idea and driving it so far into the ground that the dirt-covered pancake version of its predecessors is hardly recognizable to the original they so greedily stole from and ruined. Whew! Anyway, we’ve all witnessed the sad demise of a once great film idea by having the movie studios turn it into terrible sequels and unnecessary trilogies and, while there are plenty of examples from all genres, here are but a few that truly stand out.
Editors Note: While most of these also involve bad TV spinoffs, a slew of toys, a couple of live-action performances, some theme-park rides, unplayable video games, and maybe a musical or two, today we will mostly be focusing on the movies the originals spawned.
The Land Before Time
This animated drama follows a recently orphaned dinosaur named Littlefoot on his journey in search of the Great Valley. Along the way, he meets friends who follow him as they set off, all in hope to find a better life together. The story is quite mature, as it deals with such topics as famine, death, prejudice, and overcoming fears and stereotypes. Directed by Don Bluth—former Disney animator who is responsible for other mature-themes cartoons of the era, such as An American Tail and The Secret of NIMH—and produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, it was no wonder this prehistoric masterpiece was a box-office success, earning more than $80 million.
But little did those three men know that that first movie they created would spawn 13 straight-to-video sequels. Six years after the original, Universal released The Great Valley Adventure on VHS—the first of what would become a yearly publication to the series. These successors all took on a, shall we say, more child-like approach, filled with songs and silly situations ranging from raising a baby T-Rex to encountering aliens; a far cry from the emotional production of the original.
Dumb and Dumber
Arguably one of Jim Carrey’s most successful films during the peak of his career, this silly buddy comedy follows Lloyd and Harry as they trek across the country in an attempt to return a “lost” briefcase to a woman Lloyd dropped off at the airport. While there is more to the story, the real star here is the stellar performances given by Carrey and co-star Jeff Daniels. Released in 1994, this film grossed a whopping $247 million at the box office and launched the careers of writing/directing duo the Farrelly brothers.
But, with great success often comes not so successful sequels, and, in the case of this franchise, prequels. The 2003 Dumb and Dumberer, NOT starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, grossed only a 10th of its predecessor with even less acclaim, marking the film as a true flop. Although the 2014 sequel was able to bring back the original stars, and hold decent financial success, reeling in $169 million worldwide, it did so without the praise of the original, as most critics and fans alike left the theater disappointed. Oh, there was also a cartoon, but we won’t talk about that.
Aladdin
To be frank, most of Disney’s animated films from the 90s could fit this category, but I chose Aladdin due to the sheer disappointment. The movie follows a young street urchin from the desert kingdom of Agrabah who uses wishes from a genie to attempt to win over the Sultan’s daughter. Released in 1992, Aladdin became a smash hit, grossing more than $500 million and becoming, not only the highest-grossing film of the year, but the highest-grossing animated movie of all time (a title it would lose just two years later to The Lion King). With an equally impressive VHS release (they’re like Blue-Rays but square and much lower quality) that earned an additional $500 million in the United States alone, this billion-dollar movie was destined to become a billion-dollar franchise…unfortunately.
Over the next four years, Disney would release two straight-to-video sequels (The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves) that would combine to bring in nearly $500 million themselves. So why is this franchise on this list? Simply put, money does not equal quality. The original was not only a financially successful movie, but it was critically acclaimed, winning two Oscars and a slew of other rewards for the amazing soundtrack. It’s predecessors, on the other hand, were created on a modest budget with quality equal to their non-theatrical releases that simply don’t do the first film the justice it deserves. And, although a live-action version in 2019 raked in even more money for the mouse-eared giant, no one would argue Disney has never replicated the magic that the first movie possesses.
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is a classic slasher film and one of the most influential horror movies of all time. The original movie was groundbreaking in what it brought to the genre, creating many memorable moments now considered tropes. But the defining moment of the movie was the twist at the end when *SPOILER ALERT* the killer was revealed to be, not Jason Voorhees as presumed through the entire movie, but rather his mother.
Of course, many of the iconic images from the franchise—such as the hockey mask—didn’t come into play until the sequels. Sadly though, so did so many other terrible, terrible moments and premises. Over the course of the next 30 years, Warner Brothers would release 11 sequels, a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and enough merchandise that you would assume George Lucas must be involved. And with every movie, the ridiculousness would increase, with Jason spending time in places such as Manhattan, Hell, and even outer space. What was once an intense, scary slasher film slowly morphed into a cheesy, convoluted murder-porn series.
Jurassic Park
By this point I’ve established that “terrible” does not mean unsuccessful, and it’s a good thing too; because this six-movie franchise has raked in more than $5 billion worldwide. The original film, released in 1993 based off the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, follows paleontologists Grant and Ellie as they, along with a small group of peers, review a soon-to-be opened attraction involving real-life dinosaurs. But I don’t have to explain the plot anymore to you, because you’ve seen it. Everyone has seen it, as is proof by its $914 million theatrical gross. Jurassic Park, to this day, remains one of the most popular and most successful movies of all time.
And then they made a sequel, which was okay, and another, which was…fine. Then, after a fourteen-year break, they came back to make three more and all of the sudden I found myself wishing for another meteor to wipe the dinos out again. What’s the problem? Well, for starters, the first two were directed by what is possible the greatest movie creator of all time in Steven Spielberg. The wise sage, however, knew enough was enough and left the franchise behind, and with it went many of the features that made the movies so great. The most notable of those features was the lack of suspense. The first movie was downright scary at times. Another premise the newer directors were never able to capture was that the original dinosaurs felt alive; real creatures doing what they needed to survive. By the time the sixth film came around, the dinos were little more than monsters causing jump scares. The more I think about it, the more they follow the same flaws as Friday the 13th. They both even tried 3D.
Fast and the Furious
One of the biggest sins of a movie franchise is the genre flip. While all of these entries fall victim to such an act to some extent, I’d argue none are quite as egregious as the Fast series. Sure, they all fall under the all-too-vague action genre, but watching the first and last are as different as the two paleontogical entries on this list.
The Fast and the Furious is an action film from 2001 that follows an undercover cop as he steers through the dangerous ongoings of the illegal street racing scene in an attempt to identify a group of car hijackers. In F9 (the latest movie in the franchise), the car hijacker from the first movie and his “family” attempt to stop a group of ciberterrorists from activating a hacking device that can control any computer system. This culminates in them using a “rocket car” to enter orbit and destroy the satellite being used to upload the hack. I guess it still has cars.
Saw
This horror movie from 2004 involves two men who wake up in a bathroom chained to pipes. They learn they are part of a deadly game by a serial killer known as Jigsaw who looks to punish people for their sins by forcing them to appreciate life by putting them in painful and life-threatening situations. Playing out more similarly to a detective film like Silence of the Lambs than any sort of slasher horror, the original Saw was a refreshing take on the genre. While it did contain plenty of violent and gory moments, they were the second note to an otherwise smart script.
But what would follow would be six convoluted sequels that trample all over the timelines of each other while focusing on finding the most brutal way of killing a human being. Sure, they all followed the basic torture premise of the original, but what they missed—as sequels so often do—was an intriguing story and set of characters. The plot and people involved are there solely to set the stage for whatever gruesome traps Jigsaw has seemingly devised, making this franchise the literal definition of torture porn. An eighth movie tries to simplify matters by taking place (mostly) in the past, and a ninth movie act more as a spinoff that looks to take things back a step and focus once more on the detective mystery, but both fail to accomplish a rating score above 40%. Also, more 3D.
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