Sequels that squandered goodwill, inflated budgets, and left fans angry define Hollywood's biggest misfires. From franchise-killing disasters to tone-deaf cash grabs, these entries show how quickly a series can collapse. Vote to rank the all-time lows.
What counts: Worst means lowest critical and audience scores combined with biggest cultural backlash; figures are approximate studio-reported or aggregated estimates.
▲ Rising
The sci-fi sequel retconned immortals as aliens and killed the mythic tone that made the original cult favorite. It remains the textbook case of a sequel that ignored everything audiences liked.
Year: 1991IMDb Rating: 4.1/10Budget: $30,000,000Box Office: $15,600,000Metascore: —
added by IJR
▲ Rising
Replacing Keanu Reeves with Jason Patric and swapping a bus for a cruise ship produced one of the most mocked action sequels ever. The film became shorthand for pointless follow-ups.
Year: 1997IMDb Rating: 4/10Budget: $150,000,000Box Office: $164,000,000Metascore: 23/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
▲ Rising
A shark traveling from Amity to the Bahamas to hunt the Brody family became an instant punchline. The film cemented the franchise's reputation for diminishing returns.
Year: 1987IMDb Rating: 3/10Budget: $23,000,000Box Office: $52,000,000Metascore: 12/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
▲ Rising
Joel Schumacher's neon-soaked follow-up turned Gotham into a toy commercial and drove the franchise into a decade-long hiatus. Its camp excess became the cautionary example studios cited for years afterward.
Year: 1997IMDb Rating: 3.8/10Budget: $125,000,000Box Office: $238,000,000Metascore: 28/10
added by IJRin 3 rankings
The trilogy closer abandoned the first film's philosophical edge for endless CGI slugfests that left most viewers numb. It closed the series on a note of creative exhaustion.
Year: 2003IMDb Rating: 6.7/10Budget: $150,000,000Box Office: $427,000,000Metascore: 47/10
added by IJR
▲ Rising
The quick follow-up felt rushed and lacked the original's charm, stalling the franchise for decades. It remains the clearest example of sequel fatigue hitting a beloved comedy.
Year: 1989IMDb Rating: 6.6/10Budget: $37,000,000Box Office: $215,000,000Metascore: 56/10
added by IJR
▲ Rising
Spielberg's long-awaited return swapped Nazi foes for aliens and landed in the uncanny valley of nostalgia. Fans argued it broke the series' grounded charm.
Year: 2008IMDb Rating: 6.2/10Budget: $185,000,000Box Office: $786,000,000Metascore: 65/10
added by IJR
John Boorman's surreal follow-up ignored the original's grounded horror and became one of the most notorious critical disasters of the 1970s. It nearly ended the franchise before it began.
Year: 1977IMDb Rating: 3.8/10Budget: $14,000,000Box Office: $30,700,000Metascore: 39/10
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The first sequel without the original trio felt like a contractual obligation and lost the ensemble chemistry that powered the earlier hits. It signaled the start of diminishing returns for the franchise.
Year: 2011IMDb Rating: 6.6/10Budget: $250,000,000Box Office: $1,046,000,000Metascore: 45/10
added by IJR
A prequel that nobody asked for replaced the original cast and leaned into broad slapstick that alienated fans of the 1994 live-action hit. It killed any chance of further films.
Year: 2000IMDb Rating: 3.7/10Budget: $83,000,000Box Office: $59,000,000Metascore: 27/10
added by IJR
▲ Rising
Replacing most of the original cast with a new ensemble and shifting to a more family-friendly tone produced a comedy that felt like a different movie entirely. It ended the franchise instantly.
Year: 1988IMDb Rating: 3.8/10Budget: $20,000,000Box Office: $11,800,000Metascore: 19/10
added by IJR
William Shatner's directorial effort sent the Enterprise to find God and became the franchise's lowest point until the reboot era. The film is still cited as proof not every cast member should helm a sequel.
Year: 1989IMDb Rating: 5.5/10Budget: $28,000,000Box Office: $52,200,000Metascore: 43/10
added by IJR
Michael Bay's fifth entry doubled down on incoherent plotting and endless product placement, driving the series to its lowest audience scores. It marked the clear creative endpoint for the live-action run.
Year: 2017IMDb Rating: 5.2/10Budget: $217,000,000Box Office: $605,000,000Metascore: 27/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
Replacing Brandon Lee with Vincent Perez and lowering the budget produced a pale shadow that killed any momentum for further Crow films. It became the franchise's quick death knell.
Year: 1996IMDb Rating: 4.6/10Budget: $13,000,000Box Office: $18,000,000Metascore: 30/10
added by IJR
Decades later, the sequel tried to recapture the original's musical energy without John Belushi and landed with a thud. It closed the book on any further revivals.
Year: 1998IMDb Rating: 4.9/10Budget: $45,000,000Box Office: $21,000,000Metascore: 24/10
added by IJR
▲ Rising
The sequel to a poorly received original doubled down on talking-baby effects and became one of the lowest-grossing and most mocked family films of the decade.
Year: 2004IMDb Rating: 1.9/10Budget: $20,000,000Box Office: $9,300,000Metascore: 9/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
A prequel without Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels replaced the leads with younger actors and produced one of the most unnecessary comedy sequels ever made.
Year: 2003IMDb Rating: 3.4/10Budget: $19,000,000Box Office: $39,000,000Metascore: 19/10
added by IJR
▼ Falling
Dropping the wedding premise for a darker crime story confused fans and ended the trilogy on a sour note. It became the lowest-grossing and lowest-rated entry.
Year: 2013IMDb Rating: 5.8/10Budget: $103,000,000Box Office: $362,000,000Metascore: 30/10
added by IJR
▼ Falling
Fourteen years later, the erotic thriller sequel arrived with none of the original's cultural heat and became a punchline for late-career misfires. It effectively buried the franchise.
Year: 2006IMDb Rating: 4.4/10Budget: $70,000,000Box Office: $8,900,000Metascore: 26/10
added by IJR
A sequel without Newman and Redford felt pointless from the first trailer and quickly faded from memory. It stands as a textbook case of studio overreach.
Year: 1983IMDb Rating: 5.1/10Budget: $13,000,000Box Office: $6,600,000Metascore: —
added by IJR
▲ Rising
The rushed follow-up doubled down on talking-baby gimmickry without the original's freshness, signaling the end of the short-lived franchise. It became a quick rental-bin staple.
Year: 1990IMDb Rating: 4.7/10Budget: $17,000,000Box Office: $48,000,000Metascore: —
added by IJR
The fourth entry leaned harder into slapstick while the cast began to feel tired, marking the clear point where the long-running series lost steam.
Year: 1987IMDb Rating: 5/10Budget: $17,000,000Box Office: $28,000,000Metascore: —
added by IJR
A quick cash-in sequel replaced the original child star and leaned on cheaper effects, disappointing fans of the beloved fantasy. It ended any further live-action attempts for years.
Year: 1990IMDb Rating: 5.1/10Budget: $17,000,000Box Office: $17,000,000Metascore: —
added by IJR
Replacing Michael J. Fox with a different lead and lowering the budget produced a comedy that felt like a pale imitation from the first scene. It killed the short-lived franchise.
Year: 1987IMDb Rating: 3.4/10Budget: $3,000,000Box Office: $7,900,000Metascore: —
added by IJR
▼ Falling
A direct-to-video sequel that ignored the original's satire and turned the story into a standard slasher earned instant derision. It remains a punchline for unnecessary follow-ups.
Year: 2002IMDb Rating: 3.9/10Budget: $10,000,000Box Office: —Metascore: —
added by IJR
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Batman & Robin (1997) at the top is the correct call and I'll die on this hill.
Voted, but this order is going to look very different in a month once more people find it.
Wild that Batman & Robin (1997) is winning this. Scroll down — the real answer is further down the board.