(Photo by Orion Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection. ROBOCOP 3.)
Jaws. The Karate Kid. Speed. Paul Blart: Mall Cop. All classic movies obviously. What’s also binding them together is the fact they’ve all had terrible sequels. These forlorn follow-ups are below 10% on the Tomatometer and we’ve rounded them up, and other movies like them, for our guide to the 56 worst sequels of all time.
Police Academy has an impressive run with not only half the franchise appearing on this list, but all of them having the same goose egg Tomatometer score. A majority of the Atlas Shrugged trilogy is here. And when we said there should only be on Highlander, we dang well meant it. And expect to see horror franchises debase themselves, with dreadful follow-ups to Jaws, Halloween, The Ring, Return of the Living Dead and more.
Most recently, we’ve added the 365 Days sequels, which both match the original’s 0% Tomatometer. With this ignoble distinction, 365 Days becomes the worst-reviewed trilogy ever, overcoming the Atlas Shrugged films without consent.
Now, get ready for some brand name disappointment with the worst sequels of all time!
#1
Adjusted Score: 741%
Critics Consensus: A startling lack of taste pervades Superbabies, a sequel offering further proof that bad jokes still aren’t funny when coming from the mouths of babes.
#2
Adjusted Score: 2185%
Critics Consensus: Despite its lush tropical scenery and attractive leads, Return to the Blue Lagoon is as ridiculous as its predecessor, and lacks the prurience and unintentional laughs that might make it a guilty pleasure.
#3
Adjusted Score: 2493%
Critics Consensus: This sequel to Saturday Night Fever is shockingly embarrassing and unnecessary, trading the original’s dramatic depth for a series of uninspired dance sequences.
#4
Adjusted Score: 1488%
Critics Consensus: There should have been only one.
#5
Adjusted Score: 1084%
Critics Consensus: Utterly, completely, thoroughly and astonishingly unfunny, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol sends a once-innocuous franchise plummeting to agonizing new depths.
#6
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#7
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#8
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#9
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#10
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#11
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#12
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#13
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#14
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#15
Adjusted Score: 3604%
Critics Consensus: A mirthless, fairly desperate family film, Daddy Day Camp relies too heavily on bodily functions for comedic effect, resulting in plenty of cheap gags but no laughs.
#16
Adjusted Score: 5376%
Critics Consensus: Illogical, tension-free, and filled with cut-rate special effects, Jaws: The Revenge is a sorry chapter in a once-proud franchise.
#17
Adjusted Score: 7503%
Critics Consensus: A strained, laugh-free sequel, The Whole Ten Yards recycles its predecessor’s cast and plot but not its wit or reason for being.
#18
Adjusted Score: 8854%
Critics Consensus: Speed 2 falls far short of its predecessor, thanks to laughable dialogue, thin characterization, unsurprisingly familiar plot devices, and action sequences that fail to generate any excitement.
#19
Adjusted Score: 7082%
Critics Consensus: With its shallow characters, low budget special effects, and mindless fight scenes, Mortal Kombat – Annihilation offers minimal plot development and manages to underachieve the low bar set by its predecessor.
#20
Adjusted Score: 5564%
Critics Consensus: Juvenile even by Scary Movie standards, this fifth installment offers stale pop culture gags that generate few laughs.
#21
Adjusted Score: 5430%
Critics Consensus: Handicapped by a family friendly PG rating, even the talents of Caddyshack II‘s all-star comic cast can’t save it from its lazy, laughless script and uninspired direction.
#22
Adjusted Score: 4186%
Critics Consensus: Poorly written, clumsily filmed and edited, and hampered by amateurish acting, Atlas Shrugged: Part II does no favors to the ideology it so fervently champions.
#23
Adjusted Score: 7389%
Critics Consensus: Unfunny and unoriginal. In other words, a perfect piece of evidence for opponents of pointless movie sequels.
#24
Adjusted Score: 6732%
Critics Consensus: Unnecessary, unfunny, and generally unwelcome, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son offers more of the same for fans of Martin Lawrence’s perplexingly popular series.
#25
Adjusted Score: 7319%
Critics Consensus: Universal Soldier – The Return fails on almost every level, from its generic story to its second rate action and subpar performances.
#26
Adjusted Score: 5289%
Critics Consensus: Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween is an affront to comedy — and the audience.
#27
Adjusted Score: 5970%
Critics Consensus: Oh my god.
#28
Adjusted Score: 5831%
Critics Consensus: Striking out on every joke, Major League II is a lazy sequel that belongs on the bench.
#29
Adjusted Score: 6128%
Critics Consensus: Zero brains.
#30
Adjusted Score: 5665%
Critics Consensus: Borderline unwatchable and unspeakably dull, Highlander III is a sloppy third installment that still somehow manages to mark a slight improvement over its predecessor.
#31
Adjusted Score: 6204%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#32
Adjusted Score: 12053%
Critics Consensus: Unable to match the suspense and titilation of its predecessor, Basic Instinct 2 boasts a plot so ludicrous and predictable it borders on “so-bad-it’s-good.”
#33
Adjusted Score: 9429%
Critics Consensus: Overly frantic, painfully unfunny, and sorely missing the presence of Jim Carrey.
#34
Adjusted Score: 8240%
Critics Consensus: Bathed in flop sweat and bereft of purpose, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 strings together fat-shaming humor and Segway sight gags with uniformly unfunny results.
#35
Adjusted Score: 5344%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#36
Adjusted Score: 6911%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#37
Adjusted Score: 6332%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#38
Adjusted Score: 9965%
Critics Consensus: A sequel to a remake, Cheaper 2 wastes its solid cast in scenes of over-the-top, predictable humor.
#39
Adjusted Score: 10057%
Critics Consensus: Boring, predictable, and bereft of thrills or chills, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is exactly the kind of rehash that gives horror sequels a bad name.
#40
Adjusted Score: 8061%
Critics Consensus: A low-brow comedy, minus the comedy.
#41
Adjusted Score: 8414%
Critics Consensus: The Next Karate Kid is noteworthy for giving audiences the chance to see a pre-Oscars Hilary Swank, but other than a typically solid performance from Pat Morita, this unnecessary fourth installment in the franchise has very little to offer.
#42
Adjusted Score: 8814%
Critics Consensus: It reunites most of the original cast and rounds them up for a trip to Fort Lauderdale for spring break, but Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise forgets to pack enough jokes or compelling characters to make it through its 89-minute running time.
#43
Adjusted Score: 7459%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#44
Adjusted Score: 8687%
Critics Consensus: Crude, rude, puerile, and pointless, Problem Child 2 represents a cynical nadir in family-marketed entertainment.
#45
Adjusted Score: 7582%
Critics Consensus: Do not enter.
#46
Adjusted Score: 12833%
Critics Consensus: While it’s almost certainly the movie event of the year for filmgoers passionate about deer urine humor, Grown Ups 2 will bore, annoy, and disgust audiences of nearly every other persuasion.
#47
Adjusted Score: 13798%
Critics Consensus: Rings may offer ardent fans of the franchise a few threadbare thrills, but for everyone else, it may feel like an endless loop of muddled mythology and rehashed plot points.
#48
Adjusted Score: 9003%
Critics Consensus: Sloppy, vulgar, and manic, A Haunted House 2 might be worth a chuckle or two, but mostly it’s a string of pop culture references and crude gags that fail to hit their intended targets.
#49
Adjusted Score: 10131%
Critics Consensus: Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers trades the simple, brutal effectiveness of the original for convoluted mysticism, with disastrously dull results.
#50
Adjusted Score: 9501%
Critics Consensus: Aiming for the low bar set by its predecessor and never coming close to clearing it, Teen Wolf Too is an unfunny sequel whose bark is just as awful as its bite.
#51
Adjusted Score: 4322%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#52
Adjusted Score: 14693%
Critics Consensus: As star-studded as it is heartbreakingly lazy, Little Fockers takes the top-grossing trilogy to embarrassing new lows.
#53
Adjusted Score: 12176%
Critics Consensus: A witless follow-up to the surprise 1999 hit, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is raunchy, politically incorrect, and not particularly funny.
#54
Adjusted Score: 10379%
Critics Consensus: Clumsily exploitative and sloppily assembled, Species II fails to clear the rather low bar set by its less-than-stellar predecessor.
#55
Adjusted Score: 11573%
Critics Consensus: This asinine sequel should be placed under arrest.
#56
Adjusted Score: 5666%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.