Worst Movie Sequels of All Time: From ‘Grease 2’ to ‘Halloween III’

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Worst Movie Sequels of All Time: From ‘Grease 2’ to ‘Halloween III’

Box office bombs! A movie’s success does not always guarantee that its sequel will be a hit too. Grease is one of the most beloved films of all time, thanks largely to the undeniable chemistry between its leading stars, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and a catchy soundtrack featuring songs like “Summer Nights” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” The 1978 musical only had a budget of $6 million but has grossed nearly $400 million worldwide since its original release, according to Box Office Mojo. So, when Grease coproducer Allan Carr signed a deal with Paramount Pictures to make a sequel, it seemed like a good idea to him at the time. However, without the involvement of Travolta and Newton-John, many fans predicted that the 1982 follow-up starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer was destined for failure. At $11.2 million, Grease 2 had a higher budget than the original, and yet it only grossed $15.2 million. Even the cast thought it was lackluster. Pfeiffer once admitted that she “hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was,” while Caulfield said in the 2017 documentary The Fabulous Allan Carr that he thought his career was “over” after Grease 2 flopped. Newton-John was not impressed with the sequel either. During a 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, she said with a laugh that she spent “not a lot” of time thinking about the flick. “They did ask us, I think they approached John and I to do it, and then it didn’t happen,” the “Physical” singer recalled. “And I didn’t think it was gonna happen, and then they made it without other people.” Home Alone 3 was another movie that was doomed from the start after Alex D. Linz replaced Macaulay Culkin, who shot to fame with his roles in 1990’s Home Alone and 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The 1997 film — which also had a new director and swapped out the actors who played those pesky criminals — went on to be nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel. Scroll down to read more about Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous and more movie sequels we wish we could forget.

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Worst Movie Sequels of All Time: From ‘Grease 2’ to ‘Halloween III’

Box office bombs! A movie’s success does not always guarantee that its sequel will be a hit too. Grease is one of the most beloved films of all time, thanks largely to the undeniable chemistry between its leading stars, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and a catchy soundtrack featuring songs like “Summer Nights” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” The 1978 musical only had a budget of $6 million but has grossed nearly $400 million worldwide since its original release, according to Box Office Mojo. So, when Grease coproducer Allan Carr signed a deal with Paramount Pictures to make a sequel, it seemed like a good idea to him at the time. However, without the involvement of Travolta and Newton-John, many fans predicted that the 1982 follow-up starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer was destined for failure. At $11.2 million, Grease 2 had a higher budget than the original, and yet it only grossed $15.2 million. Even the cast thought it was lackluster. Pfeiffer once admitted that she “hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was,” while Caulfield said in the 2017 documentary The Fabulous Allan Carr that he thought his career was “over” after Grease 2 flopped. Newton-John was not impressed with the sequel either. During a 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, she said with a laugh that she spent “not a lot” of time thinking about the flick. “They did ask us, I think they approached John and I to do it, and then it didn’t happen,” the “Physical” singer recalled. “And I didn’t think it was gonna happen, and then they made it without other people.” Home Alone 3 was another movie that was doomed from the start after Alex D. Linz replaced Macaulay Culkin, who shot to fame with his roles in 1990’s Home Alone and 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The 1997 film — which also had a new director and swapped out the actors who played those pesky criminals — went on to be nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel. Scroll down to read more about Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous and more movie sequels we wish we could forget.

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Grease 2

While the 1982 rom-com helped launch Pfeiffer’s career and has since become a cult favorite, it landed a spot on the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards’ list of the 100 worst films of the 20th century.

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Home Alone 3

The 1997 comedy grossed $79 million worldwide, far less than the $476.7 million and $359 million (and counting, thanks to reruns and rereleases) that Home Alone and Home Alone 2 have respectively raked in.

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Return to the Blue Lagoon

One of the lowest-grossing movies of all time, the Milla Jovovich-led 1991 sequel to 1980’s The Blue Lagoon only made $2.8 million on an $11 million budget. It has an approval rating of zero percent on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

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Caddyshack II

The 1988 sequel to Chevy Chase’s beloved 1980 sports comedy was “handicapped” by its PG rating, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which opined that even cast members including Randy Quaid and Dan Aykroyd could not “save it from its lazy, laugh less script and uninspired direction.” 

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Mean Girls 2

The 2011 standalone sequel to the Lindsay Lohan-starring 2004 flick only had one original cast member return, Tim Meadows as school principal Ron Duvall, and did not even make it to theaters. Instead, it premiered on ABC Family and was later released on DVD.

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Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2

If you thought 1999’s Baby Geniuses was bad, don’t bother checking out the 2004 sequel, which is widely considered to be one of the worst movies of all time. It also has a rating of zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Halloween III: Season of the Witch

On its own, the 1982 sci-fi horror film is not terrible, but it is the only one in the franchise that has nothing to do with the story line — plus, it doesn’t even feature the main antagonist, Michael Myers. That said, it has become a cult classic.

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Scary Movie 5

Some may argue that the entire Scary Movie franchise is bad, but the fifth and final installment from 2013 takes the cake. Critics blamed its uninspired plot on the absence of Anna Faris and Regina Hall’s hilarious characters from the first four movies.

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Problem Child 2

While the 1991 sequel to the 1990 black comedy film was moderately successful at the box office, it received mostly negative reviews. Variety, for example, called it a “poor version of a sitcom written by 5-year-olds for 5-year-olds.”

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Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Sandra Bullock worked with what she had in the 2005 follow-up to the 2000 original, but many fans felt that it was an unnecessary addition to the overall story.