By Federico Furzan
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Let's be honest, most movies don't need sequels. Unless they have plans for launching a larger franchise or they've been tapped to continue a long-running series, when most screenwriters write a film, they don’t do it thinking about limiting the natural structure of a story: a complete character’s journey that should not need an expansion.
Does this mean that all sequels are unnecessary? Not at all. Many have even managed to cast a shadow over the original, and discussions of which sequels are better than the original are always entertaining. However, in the case of the following movies, they served very little purpose and did nothing to expand on the original. Here are 10 of the most unnecessary movie sequels ever produced.
10 ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control’ (1997)

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Speed 2: Cruise Control
PG-13
Action
Adventure
Thriller
- Release Date
- June 13, 1997
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
- Cast
- Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison, Brian McCardie, Glenn Plummer, Colleen Camp, Lois Chiles, Mike Hagerty, Bo Svenson, Francis Guinan, Jeremy Hotz, Royale Watkins, Christine Firkins, Tamia, Kimmy Robertson, Patrika Darbo, Connie Ray, Susan Barnes, Charles Parks, Enrique Murciano, Jessica Diz, Alex Montesino, Mark Adair-Rios, Xavier Coronel, Tyler Patton, Craig A. Pinckes
Speed 2: Cruise Control doesn’t exactly follow up on the events from the first movie. Annie, Sandra Bullock’s character, just finds herself on a cruise with her new beau, Alex. Aboard the cruise ship, there’s also a sociopath who hacks into the computers and sends the cruise ship "full speed" towards an oil tanker. Guess who saves the day again.
Keanu Reeves’ Best Decision Ever
Keanu Reeves stepped aside and let Jason Patric take over. Unfortunately, Bullock could not refuse, and she starred in a film that would send the franchise plans down the drain. An uninspired and unthrilling action film that’s supposed to make you tense aboard the slowest vehicle ever, it only worked to make 20th Century Fox realize that Keanu Reeves was right and Speed 2: Cruise Control was simply unnecessary.
9 ‘Terminator Genisys’ (2015)

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Terminator Genisys
PG-13
Where to Watch
*Availability in US
- Release Date
- July 1, 2015
- Runtime
- 2h 6m
- Cast
- Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke
Terminator Genisys retells the story we know from the very first Terminator film. A T-800 is sent back in time to Los Angeles in 1984 to kill Sarah Connor. However, Sarah and another T-800, one that raised her, reprogram it in what can only be assumed to be an alternate universe. Kyle Reese also arrives in 1984 to do his business of protecting Sarah, but he arrives in a timeline where John, Sarah’s son, has actually become a Terminator. Confused?
A Movie Everyone Would Rather Forget
Six years after Terminator Salvation was released, Genisys tried to save the franchise, and while it seems to have been a popular film with audiences (this one brought Arnie back), the film just didn’t make sense in regards to the timeline. We know it’s futile to ask questions when it comes to a time travel franchise, but this one felt more like a cash grab that tried to retcon everything we had seen in the past.
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8 ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ (2016)

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Independence Day: Resurgence
PG-13
Adventure
Sci-Fi
Action
- Release Date
- June 24, 2016
- Runtime
- 120 minutes
- Cast
- Bill Pullman, Sela Ward, Vivica A. Fox, Jessie Usher, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, William Fichtner, Jeff Goldblum, Joey King
Independence Day: Resurgence follows humankind’s progress twenty years after they defeated the aliens during the invasion that featured Will Smith kicking major alien butt. This time, they have reverse-engineered alien technology to defend the planet against another invasion, which features the little green men having psychic connections with humans, including former president Whitmore.
We Waited Twenty Years for This?
Roland Emmerich returned for a sequel that no one needed and delivered a generic and forgettable sci-fi thriller that managed to make almost $400 million, but it was still too expensive to produce. Yes, we know it’s supposed to be a cheesy film, but this one had zero ambition to be as effective as the first film was. This time, the nostalgia element didn't work at all.
7 ‘Don’t Breathe 2’ (2021)

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Don't Breathe 2
R
Horror
Crime
Action
- Release Date
- August 13, 2021
- Runtime
- 98minutes
- Cast
- Adam Young, Steffan Rhodri, Stephanie Arcila, Christian Zagia, Stephen Lang, Rocci Williams, Madelyn Grace, Diaana Babnicova, Bobby Schofield, Brendan Sexton III
Don’t Breathe 2 doesn’t feature much of a connection to the horror thriller about a gang of thieves messing with a blind villain who had a dark secret. We're supposed to accept that Norman Nordstrom, the former Navy SEAL who abducted women in order to impregnate them, is now a blind hero who just wants to save his daughter from those who kidnap her.
Not a Bad Movie, but Still Completely Unnecessary
The film was met with an almost poisonous backlash after the trailer featured the monstrous man being portrayed as a hero. The shift in his character was just too controversial. In the end, it was an ultraviolent action thriller that showcased Stephen Lang's talents, but nothing more than that. The big question is: could a third film be the fix for the franchise?
6 ‘The Whole Ten Yards’ (2004)
Unfortunately for The Whole Ten Yards, all the comedy cleverly applicable to the crime setting was already used in the first movie. The sequel, a toned-down, more naive follow-up to the first story, tells the story of Oz and Jimmy The Tulip as they’ve become family men, but Jimmy's former mob boss comes back for revenge.
The One Nobody Remembers
If you’re trying to make a relevant sequel, then you want to up your game a bit, right? Instead, The Whole Ten Yards is a ridiculous PG-13 comedy that uses every gag out there to portray Jimmy as a rehabilitated man. It’s nowhere near as funny as the first, and it did nothing for the careers of its stellar comedy cast. The Rotten Tomatoes score sits at 4%, and late actor Matthew Perry attributed his lack of participation in movies to the terrible reception of this pointless sequel.
5 ‘Jaws: The Revenge’ (1987)

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Jaws: The Revenge
PG-13
Adventure
Thriller
Horror
Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US
- Release Date
- July 17, 1987
- Runtime
- 89 minutes
- Cast
- Lorraine Gary, Michael Caine, Mario Van Peebles, Lance Guest, Karen Young, Judith Barsi, Lynn Whitfield, Mitchell Anderson
After Jaws 3-D was critically panned and proved that the franchise had to end, Universal Pictures mogul Sidney Sheinberg decided a fourth entry was still necessary. After all, he had to promote the Jaws ride located at the Universal Studios theme park. That’s how Jaws: The Revenge was born, a lifeless sequel that’s impressively mediocre and ridicules everything Steven Spielberg created in 1975.
The Sequel That Buried an Entire Franchise
Jaws: The Revenge follows Ellen Brody, Chief Brody’s widow, who’s convinced that a great white shark is out for revenge. It even follows her to the Bahamas. The premise is absurd, but then so is the entire film. It shows the shark as a monstrous, sentient mammal that’s able to break the rules of physics if it allows the special effects team to show off the worst effects of the franchise. It wasn’t only unnecessary, it was actually an insult.
4 ‘Jason X’ (2001)

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Jason X
Perhaps the idea of sending Jason Vorhees to space sounds cool, but the 2001 execution of such an idea was not very good. Jason X sees humans in the future reawakening the slasher killer after he was frozen for centuries. As he morphs into a cyborg-like creature, you get the idea that Jason X is B-movie madness at its fullest.
The Cash Grab Not Even Horror Fans Liked
But is Jason X actually appealing to B-movie fans? Aside from the franchise’s best kill, there’s not much here to recycle. The sci-fi slasher movie has terrible special effects and didn’t add much to the lore of what was already a burned-out franchise. This one exists because they ran out of ideas, but hey, at least it features horror master David Cronenberg in a very short cameo.
3 ‘Son of the Mask’ (2005)

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Son of the Mask
PG
Adventure
Comedy
Family
Fantasy
- Release Date
- February 18, 2005
- Runtime
- 94 minutes
- Cast
- Jamie Kennedy, Alan Cumming, Traylor Howard, Kal Penn, Steven Wright, Ben Stein, Peter Callan, Liam Falconer, Ryan Falconer, Brett Pickup, Ashley Lyons, Wayne McDaniel, Sandy Winton, Rebecca Massey, Issac Longmuir, Tayzin Fahey-Leigh, Skyla Laginha, Lochie Nazer Hennings, Andie Rogers, Trilby Glover, Josephine Chu, Solomon Freer, Ethan Coker
Son of the Mask is supposedly a sequel to Jim Carrey’s unique 1994 comedy. However, it only connects to the original by featuring the same magic mask and… nothing else. It follows animator Tim Avery conceiving a baby while wearing the super mask that gives powers to humans, and Loki, the mythological god, trying to get ahold of the same mask.
The Worst Sequel of All Time?
Not only was Son of the Mask an unnecessary standalone sequel, it was also a disappointing mess of a movie that wasn’t funny or appealing. It had Jamie Kennedy, during his few minutes of fame, desperately attempting to evoke what Carrey had accomplished before. The CGI is good sometimes, but in the end, it was an obvious attempt to capitalize on a concept that was only profitable in the hands of a genius.
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2 ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ (2022)

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Jurassic World: Dominion
PG-13
Adventure
Action
Sci-Fi
- Release Date
- June 10, 2022
- Runtime
- 2hr 8min
- Cast
- Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt2, Isabella Sermon, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern
In Jurassic World: Dominion, humans have just given up. Dinosaurs now roam the Earth and, somehow, we coexist with them. Meanwhile, Owen and Claire raise a girl while trying to protect dinosaurs, and original Jurassic Park figures Ellie Sattler, Alan Grant, and Ian Malcolm try to reveal Biosyn’s shenanigans.
When Pure Nostalgia Doesn’t Work
The film is a loud and expensive mess that didn't help the new trilogy, and was only a nostalgic movie directed by someone who believed that bringing back old characters and giving them a thin storyline was enough. The character arcs didn't make sense, and it was the perfect reason to seek another direction for an inevitable new trilogy that will surely try to retcon this cash grab.
1 ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ (2021)

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The Matrix Resurrections
The Matrix Resurrections is a complex return to the franchise that was very hard to digest. Somehow, Neo is still inside a (version of the) Matrix, and he constantly takes blue pills to "stay inside." After the first trilogy, you would have thought that it wasn’t necessary to go chasing the white rabbit again, but it’s actually the premise of the most unnecessary Matrix sequel.
Definitely Not the Best They Could Have Done
An uninspired revival that felt overly complicated and thinly written, The Matrix Resurrections could have been a worthy follow-up if they kept things simple and followed the original storyline. Instead, they went for an excessive number of new characters, a meta approach that was terribly laughable, and horribly written villains.
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