ChaosCinema Ranks 13 Movie Sequels That Ruined Their Originals, From Wonder Woman 1984 to The Last Jedi

A good sequel expands on the original film and does new and exciting things with the world and characters. Think Empire Strikes Back, Toy Story 2, The Dark Knight, movies that took full advantage of the first movie's ideas. But what happens when a sequel gets made that completely misunderstands why people liked the first movie at all? Here are 13 sequels that ruin their originals, counting down from 13 to number one.

No. 13: Wonder Woman 1984 turns a fantastic origin story into a cheap mess

The first Wonder Woman was fantastic, grand, epic and emotional, and it was clear why it became such a massive hit. I have no idea how Wonder Woman 1984 was let out the door. I wonder if DC and Warner Brothers figured that because it was releasing during the height of the 2020 lockdowns, nobody would care that it was, in my view, an absolute mess.

The movie is cheap, poorly written, and the characters make no sense. The villain is awful. There is also an uncomfortable plot point involving Wonder Woman doing something unheroic that the movie completely refuses to call out, and I won't spell out what it is, but if you've seen it you know exactly which part I mean. In my view, the reason we still haven't gotten a third Wonder Woman movie despite all the demand for one comes down to this film.

No. 12: Shazam Fury of the Gods stings more because it's just boring

The first Shazam was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't incredible, but it hit all the right notes and had a great message about family. Fury of the Gods is a better movie than Wonder Woman 1984, but it's still a massive downgrade from the original, and it seems to completely misunderstand what made the first movie so good.

Fury of the Gods took the lovable crew and heart of the first film and filtered it into the most generic superhero template imaginable, resulting in one of the most boring and unimpressive comic book films of the 2020s. It's not nearly as bad as Wonder Woman 1984, but I'd argue this one stings more as a sequel, because while Wonder Woman 1984 was actively bad, Shazam Fury of the Gods is just boring, which makes for a worse viewing experience.

No. 11: Caddyshack 2 proves late cash grabs aren't a modern invention

Caddyshack is one of the most original comedies of the 80s, a hilarious movie about rich snobs at a golf club and a caddy trying to get a scholarship, featuring some of the best writing and performances of its time. Caddyshack 2 arrived eight years later with almost none of the original cast, dumbed the rating down from R to a family-friendly attempt, and it was terrible, a blatant cash-in on the original.

What makes me laugh is that Caddyshack 2 came out in 1988, almost a decade after the original, long before the era of nostalgia-driven sequels. We tend to think of super-late cash grab sequels as a modern practice, but Caddyshack 2 shows Hollywood has been doing this for a long time.

No. 10: Exorcist II: The Heretic mocked audiences who once screamed at the original

It's kind of a horror tradition to make bad sequels, and it makes sense because horror movies are generally low budget, so if an IP is making money, why not rush out a sequel. Sometimes that leads to genuinely great horror sequels like Saw 2 or Friday the 13th Part 2, movies that evolve the original concept while building a franchise. Exorcist II tried to bank off one of the greatest horror movies ever made instead.

The film follows the girl from the original, now 16 and still recovering from her possession. It tries hard to be scary and ends up being funny, over the top and heavy handed, as if the filmmakers watched the original and tried to one-up its memorable moments without understanding the context that made them scary in the first place. This isn't a case of a movie that did well and only sucks now. According to reviews and articles from 1977, people were literally laughing out loud in theaters, and apparently at the New York premiere, Warner Brothers executives were yelled at by moviegoers for making such a bad sequel. The original director, who was not brought back, was once quoted calling it "as bad as seeing a traffic accident on the street" and describing it as a stupid mess made by a dumb guy.

No. 9: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice squandered what Man of Steel set up

To be fair, a lot of the issues here were the studio's fault. Warner Brothers made bizarre changes to the original cut that created plot holes, and the trailers spoiled the third act, killing any suspense in theaters. Even so, the movie released in cinemas just wasn't good, and it didn't take advantage of the cool things set up in Man of Steel.

The director's cut is honestly a lot better and does a much better job of jumping off from Man of Steel, but the theatrical version is gloomy and confusing, and it's not surprising it got such bad reviews. It was a bad Batman movie and a horrible sequel to Man of Steel, which wasn't a perfect movie itself, but there was a lot that could have been built from that foundation, and Batman v Superman didn't do any of it.

No. 8: Moana 2 was left with an ending never meant to exist

The first Moana is stunning, one of the best Disney movies of the 2010s, arguably a top three film from that decade for Disney. Is anyone actually asking for Moana 2, on top of the live action remake now too? Being unnecessary doesn't automatically make something bad, but Moana 2 absolutely was both unnecessary and bad.

Moana 2 forgets why people liked the first movie. The music wasn't as good, the animation somehow looked worse than the original, and the plot was actively boring. The ending felt so unsatisfying to me, probably because it's been confirmed there wasn't originally supposed to be a movie at all. It was meant to be the first few episodes of a Moana television show, so the cliffhanger was supposed to lead into later episodes that never happened. What we got instead was a handful of stitched together episodes of a canceled show with no real ending, all before Disney moved on to a live action version with Dwayne Johnson.

No. 7: Zoolander 2 replaced witty writing with nostalgia bait

Zoolander 2 arrived 15 years after the original, which holds up incredibly well as an extremely well written and funny movie about an airheaded male model, played by Ben Stiller, manipulated by other airheaded fashion figures into assassinating a world leader. It's over the top and ridiculous, and it's one of the funniest movies of the early 2000s.

Zoolander 2 completely missed the appeal of the original. It's a bunch of recycled gags and cameos with no real point, and the genuinely witty writing of the first movie is gone, replaced with nostalgia bait for a movie hardly anybody had thought about in a decade. Nobody wants to see a comedy cast reunite 15 years later just to do the same thing again, whereas something like Anchorman 2 shows what happens when a comedy cast reunites to make something new.

No. 6: Joker 2's musical gamble turned mean spirited

I'll admit I was intrigued by the idea of this sequel being a musical. We don't get enough big budget Hollywood musicals, and turning a sequel to an ultra dark character drama like Joker into a musical felt like a wild idea that maybe had a path to being special. Unfortunately it wasn't carried out, and it didn't walk that special path.

This isn't just a bad musical, it's a bad movie. The editing is dumb, the musical numbers are pointless, and the characters are ruined from the first film. The ending is one of the most intentionally unsatisfying things I've seen in film, and the director admitted to going out of his way to make the main character less likable this time, leaving the whole movie feeling mean spirited. I don't understand why Joker needed a sequel at all rather than a standalone Harley film in the same style, or why we needed two hours of the previous movie's protagonist getting humiliated with weak musical numbers.

No. 5: Independence Day Resurgence turned a franchise's future to silence

The 2010s brought a wave of random sequels to 80s and 90s movies, most of them blatant cash grabs, but I can't think of one that missed the point more than Independence Day Resurgence. The original was one of the biggest movies of the 90s, genuinely well written with incredible special effects for the time that carried the weight of the conflict.

The sequel, released 20 years later, is a loud, pointless string of destruction with no rhyme or reason. Nothing about it is impressive, and the plot is flat out dumb. This was supposed to launch several legacy sequels, but after it underperformed and audiences disliked it, the studio went quiet about the other planned films. Resurgence, in the end, didn't resurge anything.

No. 4: Cars 2 abandoned everything the first film was about

The first Cars isn't one of Pixar's best films, but it's good, a solid seven or eight out of ten from back when Pixar was untouchable and even its worst movies were good. It was a character exploration of a hotheaded celebrity learning that fame and fortune aren't the most important things in life. Cars 2 arriving was, honestly, shocking to sit through in theaters.

Cars 2 turns into a goofy spy thriller full of James Bond references, and I have no idea who signed off on it. It completely ditches the tone of the first movie for something entirely different, and that different thing is just weird. The action isn't good, the jokes don't land, and it has nothing to do with the first film, which raises the question of why it was even called Cars 2. Unfortunately this wasn't the only Pixar legacy sequel to ruin its original.

No. 3: Incredibles 2 undid its hero's arc and looked worse doing it

This one hurts even more than Cars 2, because while Cars wasn't top tier Pixar, the first Incredibles is widely seen as one of Pixar's best, if not their greatest work, an extremely well written and surprisingly mature story about a man's midlife crisis and learning to love his family and let go of his past.

Incredibles 2 throws all of that away, undoing the man's character arc, and delivers some of the most boring superhero action imaginable along with unappealing animation that somehow looks worse than the first film's. The original is a nine or possibly a ten out of ten depending who you ask, while Incredibles 2 hovers around four out of five, partly because it squanders the original's characters and themes, and partly because it's simply not a good movie on its own, with a weak villain and nothing close to the quality of the first film's every scene.

No. 2: Son of the Mask abandoned the franchise's cast entirely

The Mask, a 1994 action comedy based on the comic series, wasn't as dark as its source material but was one of the most underrated comic book adaptations ever made, with fantastic special effects, a compelling story, and breakout performances from Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz, both unknown at the time.

Eleven years later, Son of the Mask ditched the original cast, dumbed the rating down to PG to try to capitalize on kids and parents, and turned into a hyperactive live action Looney Tunes ripoff with little to do with the Mask franchise. There hasn't been a Mask movie since.

No. 1: Star Wars: The Last Jedi derailed everything The Force Awakens set up

The Force Awakens wasn't a perfect movie, but it set up a lot of things that could have been expanded on in a sequel. The Last Jedi, in my view, is a misstep that effectively derailed the entire Star Wars idea and caused a divide in the fan base that hasn't recovered.

The Last Jedi took all the intrigue set up in The Force Awakens and flushed it away. Why was Luke on a deserted island? Turns out he hates everyone now. Who was Snoke and why was he so powerful? Turns out he's just as underwhelming, and now he's dead with no explanation. What would become of Finn after his injury at the end of The Force Awakens? Turns out he's perfectly cured with no side effects and becomes a useless side character with no development. To me, The Last Jedi is easily the worst sequel of all time, completely destroying everything the previous movie set up and derailing the franchise.