There are so many good classic movies, such as The Little Mermaid, Mean Girls, and Home Alone. What do all these movies have in common? They all have terrible sequels. With the recycled material being blatant cash grabs, what even is the point in having them?
The first ever recorded sequel was The Fall of a Nation (1916), which was a sequel to the film The Birth of a Nation from the year prior. The Fall of a Nation was only created to capitalise on the success of The Birth of a Nation, not to make the story better or because the filmmakers truly love making movies.
There have been many good sequels, yes; The Godfather 2 is often considered better than the original, as it smartly continues the story of the original without getting repetitive and cheap, but this isn’t the case for the majority of sequels. If the movie is already amazing, why would you ruin it and tarnish its legacy? Many filmmakers are aware of this, such as Wes Craven with his Scream franchise. The main point of Scream 2 is to self awarely comment on sequels and why they’re bad. Scream 5 also comments on the idea of “requel” and bringing “dead” franchises back to life with a new movie that has new-and-improved effects.
It’s not just movie sequels that don’t work; it’s also book sequels. Catarina Stephanopoulos (11) said that “the second Twilight book, New Moon, wasn’t nearly as good as the first” and that the writing was “way worse.” However, the 2nd Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is seen as an improvement over the first. With franchises like Harry Potter, all of the sequels keep building on the next and add something new, which is how a sequel should be. Laylah Crane (11) said that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was “much better than the original, and I loved how it built on the story of Hogwarts and showed us more of it.” It’s continuing the story and building the world rather than doing the same thing and being unoriginal.
Mean Girls 2 has been widely regarded as one of the worst sequels in the history of sequels. Having seen it myself, I can attest that that is not an exaggeration. It’s almost an exact carbon copy of the original, just with different actresses and not nearly as funny or satire. This movie definitely tarnished Mean Girls’ legacy and is just an altogether forgotten film that was only made for money, and you can tell.
Overall, sequels only work when you’re expanding or doing something different with the story. But why do we even need sequels or reboots? Is it really that hard to come up with something original now? All of Jordan Peele’s movies have the same vibe, kind of making them seem like sequels to each other, but they’re not. They’re completely new ideas, and he’s amazing at conveying his stories in 1 movie. If he can do it, so can everyone else. It’s time to stop giving these cash-grab movies our money and go and see something new and far more creative!
