11 movie sequels nobody wanted and 9 we desperately need

Was anyone really clamoring for the story of Newt Scamander, the Wizarding World's first magizoologist, when the first "Fantastic Beasts" movie was released back in 2016?

Not really.

But it had been five years since the final "Harry Potter" film, and as anyone living in the 21st century knows, intellectual property is everything.

But when the sequel, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," was released in 2018, fans were treated to a confusing story in which it felt like dozens of characters were introduced for no reason, there was no real plot, and it ended with a twist that potentially could have upended years of beloved canon. It has a dismal 36% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a slightly less dismal audience score of 53%.

In the six years since "Grindelwald," things have only gotten more uncomfortable in the Wizarding World between Johnny Depp's myriad controversies, creator JK Rowling's comments that many deemed transphobic, and Ezra Miller's criminal troubles.

"The Secrets of Dumbledore" was released in April 2022 to little fanfare with a still-low Rotten Tomatoes score of 46% and the lowest box-office receipts in the franchise's history, according to Games Radar.

Do we truly need two more of these movies that are ostensibly about Newt, who ends up feeling like an afterthought in his own story? Probably not, which is why not even Warner Bros. will commit to a sequel.

In the wake of the mega-success of "The Hunger Games" franchise, every other dystopian young-adult saga was turned into a movie series ("Maze Runner," "Ender's Game," "The Host," etc.), but the only one that came relatively close to replicating that success was "Divergent," which was released in 2014.

"Divergent" starred Shailene Woodley as Beatrice, aka Tris, a 16-year-old who lives in a society that is divided into five factions based on personality traits — but, gasp, Tris has multiple traits and is known as "divergent." Confused? Understandably so, which is perhaps why the first film barely made a cultural impact and has a low 41% on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, two more sequels were produced (2015's "Insurgent," which has a 28%, and 2016's "Allegiant," which has an 11%). As was the 2010s custom, the last book of the series was to be split into two movies, "Allegiant" and "Ascendant," but the reception of "Allegiant" was so poor that the conclusion of the franchise was canceled.

So, we ask: Did we really need "Insurgent" and "Allegiant" if there wasn't going to be a fourth and final film? The answer is no.

"Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" isn't technically a sequel, more of a spin-off or re-telling, but still: Why?

"Dirty Dancing," while beloved and an inarguable classic, hasn't aged in the best way when you think about the weird age gap between Baby (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze), nor is the abortion plotline necessary in any way ... but it's from the '80s, and we cut it some slack because of the electric chemistry between Grey and Swayze and its lovable cheesiness.

"Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" was released 17 years later, in 2004, and didn't really add anything to the plot to make it less problematic. In fact, it made it weirder by moving the story to Cuba, which added some political and racial tension that "Dirty Dancing 2" is simply not equipped to handle, as Roger Ebert pointed out.

Movie studios: Not every classic needs a remake or a sequel. Please, let some sleeping dogs lie.

Alas, the studios didn't listen. A "Dirty Dancing" legacy sequel is set for 2025.

There's no logical reason for a story about one girl's experience joining her college's a cappella group to turn into a trilogy of absolutely wild films ... besides money.

"Pitch Perfect," released in 2012, is a charming enough comedy that introduced audiences to Rebel Wilson, Ben Platt, Skylar Astin, and Anna Kendrick as a movie star. Also, that song with the cups. It was funny and told a complete story.

Then, it made six times its budget, according to Box Office Mojo, and suddenly this a cappella comedy became a franchise that had no real reason for existing — by "Pitch Perfect 3" in 2017, the crew wasn't even in college anymore, eliminating any reason they had for singing a cappella at all.

To my fellow '90s kids out there: I'm sorry to tell you, but the 1996 sports comedy classic "Space Jam" isn't a good movie. Our nostalgia and love of Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes has clouded our judgment and made us think that the 2021 sequel would be a good idea.

We should've known that we had a real problem on our hands when the internet lost its mind regarding the redesign of Lola Bunny. We were warned again when the characters of "A Clockwork Orange" were visible in the background of this movie co-starring LeBron James and a cartoon bunny.

But the true nail in the coffin came when we found out that the villain, played by Don Cheadle, was named Al G. Rhythm ... get it?

As clothing brand Super Yaki rightfully says, "'The Mummy' (1999) is perfect." Its sequel, 'The Mummy Returns," released in 2001, has its flaws, but the whole gang reunites for another romp in 1930s Egypt and it's a good time.

Seven years later, Universal trotted out Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell yet again for the 2008 film "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," which inexplicably leaves Egypt behind, recasts the inimitable Rachel Weisz with Maria Bello (no shade, but #NotMyEvie), and focuses on their son, Alex.

Do not even get us started on the 2017 reboot starring Tom Cruise. In a word: No.

"Sex and the City 2" manages to be boring, racially insensitive, and extremely long, all while being a tourism ad for Abu Dhabi.

Any "SATC" fan should be so grateful that "And Just Like That" was released in 2021 — even if Miranda's character was essentially ruined, at least it's better than how we left our gals in 2010.

"Snow White and the Huntsman" co-starred Kristen Stewart as the titular princess and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman. The 2012 film was a modest box-office hit and received middling reviews, but a sequel was still greenlit.

But when pictures emerged of Stewart and the film's married director Rupert Sanders engaging in some PDA in Us Weekly, both were axed from the 2016 sequel.

"They should've put me in that movie! It would've been better," Stewart told The Independent in 2019. "They didn't put me in that movie because I went through such a highly publicized scandal, and so they were like scared of touching that."

So, that's how we ended up with "The Huntsman: A Winter's War," a prequel/sequel to the "Snow White" film that essentially doesn't exist.

There is no need for a sequel to 1994's "Speed" without Keanu Reeves.

Sandra Bullock is a charming movie star, but even she cannot overcome the gaping hole left behind by Reeves, especially not when he was replaced by Jason Patric in the 1997 sequel, who tries his best but is just ... not Keanu Reeves.

When "Jaws" was released in June 1975, it created the idea of a summer blockbuster, and the world has never been the same.

So it makes sense that Universal would want to capitalize on the success of the shark-hunting phenomenon — but when it became clear that director Steven Spielberg would not be directing the film, plans should've been scrapped.

Instead, we got "Jaws 2," which Rotten Tomatoes pointed out "has no reason to exist," "Jaws 3D," which the site also said had "no evident reason to exist," and "Jaws: The Revenge," which features a roaring shark — yes, an undersea animal that roars. It also has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Somehow, the premise of "What would happen if all crime were legal for a night" has spawned a multi-film franchise — four sequels, to be exact, plus one TV show — and a complex mythology. And don't worry — a sixth film is on the way, according to ComicBook.com.

There are plenty of other horror films, some on this list, in fact, that haven't gotten sequels yet. We'd trade at least one "Purge" film for one of those other ones.

Maybe it's just us, but the 2019 horror film "Escape Room" and its 2021 sequel "Tournament of Champions" were both interesting, visually inventive films that we'd like to see more of.

Is "Escape Room" the most prestige horror franchise of our time? Not exactly, but there's something satisfying about people solving (or not solving) puzzles. As many on X (formerly known as Twitter) have said, "I'd give anything for an 'escape room 3' movie."

"Crazy Rich Asians" was a phenomenon when it was released in 2018, making over $200 million worldwide. It was the first major Hollywood film to have a predominantly Asian cast since "The Joy Luck Club" in 1993; it made stars out of Gemma Chan, Henry Golding, Awkwafina, and Constance Wu; and it made us all want to travel to Singapore immediately.

The film is based on a trilogy of novels by Kevin Kwan — the next two books are "China Rich Girlfriend" and "Rich People Problems" — so where are the sequels? It's been six years — we want more Michelle Yeoh sternly playing mahjong.

In May 2022, Deadline reported that a spin-off focusing on Gemma Chan's character and her teased on-screen love interest, played by Harry Shum Jr., was in early development.

Two years later, Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, told Variety that now a sequel TV series is in the works. Put these characters on the big screen!

Has a movie ever made you feel more patriotic than 2004's "National Treasure" or its (lesser, but still entertaining) 2007 sequel, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets"? If you're a '90s or 2000s kid, the answer is no.

Cage plays treasure hunter/American history expert/cryptographer/stealer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin Gates. Already, you can tell it's a perfect movie.

While the first two were both financially successful, and the second film ends with a perfect tease for a third installment, "National Treasure 3" has been pushed back many times. Finally, in 2022, Cage told The Hollywood Reporter that a third movie was not happening.

He might want to check again, though. Director Jon Turteltaub said on a podcast in May 2024 that a script for a third movie is being written. "There's a very, very good writer writing it right now who tends to write really good movies. If the script comes out close to good, and you can see the finish line from where you are, we're making the movie," he said.

Yes, a Disney+ series was released with Justin Bartha reprising his role as Riley Poole in 2022, but it was not the same without Cage and Diane Kruger. It was canceled after one season, Entertainment Weekly reported.

"Happy Death Day" is another horror franchise we'd like to see continue for at least one more movie. Both the original 2017 film and its 2019 sequel, "Happy Death 2U," were critically and financially successful, and they focused on a genre that has been fascinating to Hollywood for decades: "One of Those Infinite Time-Loop Situations You Might Have Heard About."

Director Christopher Landon has said he's ready to go on a third film, "Happy Death Day to Us," but is just waiting for the studio to get on board.

"It's a trilogy. I've got to make the third one. Maybe after 'Freaky' we'll figure it out. Both of us really want to do it. So hopefully we'll figure it out," he told Entertainment Tonight in 2020.

Fourteen years on from the original, it's extremely unlikely that we'd get a sequel to the 2010 Disney film "Tangled," which focuses on the classic story of Rapunzel escaping her tower, with the help of thief-with-a-heart-of-gold Flynn Rider (real name Eugene Fitzherbert).

But if "Frozen," which arguably told a more complete story than "Tangled" did, is getting multiple sequels, there's no reason that "Tangled" shouldn't have gotten one, too. We want to see more of Flynn and Rapunzel's adventures! The (charming) animated series may tide you over, but we want a real, big-budget sequel, too.

"Sky High," released in 2005, was many kids' first exposure to superhero movies, as it was a little more child-friendly than the dark story of Batman in "Batman Begins" and not as scary as the horror-tinged "Spider-Man 2."

Instead "Sky High" told the story of Will Stronghold, the son of two iconic superheroes, who might have to contend with the fact that he's "only" a sidekick while attending a high school just for kids with superpowers.

If you've seen the movie — spoiler alert! — you know that Will comes into his own and gains the powers of both of his parents and even gets the girl by the end. But then what? Now that Will's a bona-fide superhero, what's his life like?

According to Gizmodo, there was a possibility of the film getting a college-set sequel, "Save U," but it never materialized, and we're still bitter about it.

Unlike "Sky High," "The Amazing Spider-Man" did get a sequel: the extremely underwhelming "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," in 2014, two years after the original. And we thought that was that. Garfield, who went on to become a two-time Oscar nominee and Tony winner, and generally beloved movie star, moved on.

That all changed when Garfield, and OG Spidey Togey Maguire, were brought back for Tom Holland's third Spider-Man film, "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Arguably, Garfield gave the best performance in the film (we see you, Willem Dafoe fans, but we disagree), and fans began the campaign for "Amazing Spider-Man 3."

Sure, why not? Sony's clearly still looking for its universe's Spider-Man, and Garfield deserves another shot.

At this point in Tom Cruise's career, this entry into his action-movie pantheon is underrated.

The 2014 sci-fi action film is another time-loop situation, this time with Cruise playing a public affairs officer in the US Army despite having no fighting experience whatsoever. Instead, he dies over and over again, reliving the same day, and picking up combat skills as he goes, along with the help of Emily Blunt's extremely capable Rita Vrataski.

In 2016, two years after its release, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie told Collider that the idea for a sequel was "locked and loaded," but he could "only say it's a going concern" without giving any details.

Ten years later, there has been no "Edge of Tomorrow 2," but there have been three more "Mission: Impossible" movies, and at least one more is on the way.

"Master and Commander" was released the same year as Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," in 2001. Clearly, only one became a giant franchise spawning multiple sequels ... but we'd argue that perhaps it was the wrong one.

"Master and Commander" is based on the Aubrey–Maturin series of historical novels, with "Far Side of the World" taking elements from three of author Patrick O'Brian's series. Russell Crowe reunited with his "A Beautiful Mind" costar Paul Bettany, and they played Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.

While it's not as "fun" as a classic pirate tale, "Master and Commander" is an entertaining and truly breathtaking spectacle. There are 20 Aubrey—Maturin novels in total — it's time to either reboot the series with a new cast or bring back Crowe and Bettany for a second installment on the high seas.