The 49 Biggest Movie Sequel Disappointments in History

Published: August 5, 2024 by 24/7 Tempo Staff

When a new movie premieres, there is often much hype and fanfare promoting it. Many of these new releases are smash hits, becoming blockbuster successes and capturing the devotion of audiences, and oftentimes critics as well. These box office hits often leave viewers wanting more and hoping that there will be a sequel.

Film sequels are not a novel idea – they have been around since the early 20th century when the silent film “The Fall of a Nation” was released in 1916. This film was the follow-up to the highly successful first silent film, “The Birth of a Nation,” which was released the year prior and starred Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Henry B. Walthall. “Birth” told the story of two families during the Civil War, Lincoln’s Assassination, and the establishment of the KKK.

The premise of “Fall” is that the U.S. was unprepared for war, resulting in an attack led by a German army, executing children and war veterans. It was not as well-received as its predecessor. It was the first sequel failure, both commercially and critically. As a result, no copies exist. (Earlier sequels, like “The Little Train Robbery” that came out in 1905, a parody of 1903’s short “The Great Train Robbery,” were film shorts and not considered a movie sequel.)

When a movie is released, viewers have come to expect that there will be a sequel. This isn’t always the case but it is more common today to have a follow-up film. Filmmakers take a risk when making sequels. Some are tremendously successful and others miss the mark. Fans of original movies may feel there was no need for a sequel, and other movies have so many sequels that they get tired of the franchise. (A film franchise fans still enjoy is “Deadpool”, and the release of the new film, “Deadpool and Wolverine” is expected to be a hit.)

As of 2023, “The Avengers: Endgame” was the best-selling sequel of all time. The movie’s global box office revenue reached almost $2.8 billion, beating “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens” and “Jurassic World.” Its performance landed it the Guinness Book of World Records for “Highest-Grossing Movie Sequel.” These movies are among the “Most Successful Sequels Ever” ranked by ticket sales. Many others didn’t fare as well, making our list of the most disappointing sequels.

To determine the biggest movie sequel disappointment in history, 24/7 Tempo developed an index of movies using average ratings on IMDb (an online movie database owned by Amazon) and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes (an online movie and TV review aggregator) as of March 2024, weighting all ratings equally. We considered only sequels with at least 25,000 ratings on either IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. Documentaries were not considered. (Be sure to check out the 20 worst movies of all time.)

Here are the biggest movie disappointments in history: