Sequels are difficult to master.
Audiences are not always receptive to sequels, questioning the need for them and seeing them as money grabs.
That audience can be hard to hey.
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
These big changes can be extreme and they have extreme reactions.
Here are sequels that took big risks and failed.
The premise of theWonder Womansequel was essentially: what if Wonder Woman was in the 80s?
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Diana Prince lives among mortals in a mall-obsessed culture complete with perms and neon colors.
The film only made $169.6 million domestically against a $200 million budget.
John Travolta revived his role as a dancing king.
The sequel does away with most of that.
Travolta’s new motivation is to dance on Broadway.
Half of the film features Broadway show itself, including large musical numbers and special effects.
He isn’t the bombastic Brooklyn boy we all loved from the first film.
He visits his mother to apologize for previously having an attitude.
Staying Aliveis available to watch on Amazon Prime in the US.
It only has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.The Fly IIwas plagued by negative reviews.
Set in Los Angeles, cops discover a recent string of murders committed by the Predator.
There is no wild jungle.
ThePredatorfranchise is successful, but this second film could have tanked that.
Luckily, it didn’t.
Fans were surprised by how bizarre the sequel to the beloved sci-fi film was.
Image via Brooksfilms
It grossed $57 million worldwide, a failure compared to its $98 million budget.
Texavilleis available to buy on Amazon.
How could a sequel possibly replicate that?
Image via 20th Century Studios
Sadly,Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2missed the mark.
The big cast alone increases the budget, as do the high-quality cameras and equipment.
That remains a record!
The sequel did not match that record, but it did make a profit.
4’S.
His “imaginary friend” warns him about the upcoming tragedy and Donnie’s death.
Try as he might, he can’t fight his fate.
S. Darkois one of those sequels that does away with Donnie.
Darkofocuses on Donnie’s younger sister.
S. Darkois available to rent on Amazon the US.
This dark fantasy film released in 1985 starredFairuza Balkas Dorothy in her feature film debut.
As a result, audiences were a bit scandalized by this dark return to such a magical place.
Image via Artisan Entertainment
The yellow brick road to makeReturn to Ozwas long and winding.
It only grossed $11 million against a $28 million budget.
It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
A group of tourists arrives in Burkittsville, Maryland after seeing The Blair Witch Project (1999) to explore the mythology and phenomenon, only to come face to face with their own neuroses and possibly the witch herself.
Return to Ozis available to watch on Disney+ in the US.
It was also one of the most expensive films ever made with an alleged budget of $200 million.
That’s a far cry from a charming film about animated race cars.
Carshad mixed reviews, butCars 2gave Pixar its first negative reception.
Critics disagreed with the focus on Mater and the sudden violence.
Ebert, however,praised the film.
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Bateman was an 80s Wall Street bro who murdered beautiful women.
It turns out that she killed him!
In 1993, she went with her babysitter on a date with the killer.
The killer murders her babysitter, so the 12-year-old girl kills Bateman with an ice pick.
The original script was calledThe Girl Who Wouldn’t Die.
Image via Lionsgate
