Movie sequels and prequels are becoming more common than ever. At their best, sequels are a win for both the studios that produce them and the audiences who get to enjoy yet another installment of a familiar story. At their worst, they leave moviegoers wishing these sequels had never been made.

To determine the worst movie sequels, 24/7 Tempo developed an index based on several measures from the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes. The index is a composite of the movies’ IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score.

Some sequels are so lousy they can, as is the case with some of the films on this list, end an initially well-received movie series. Bad sequels can be the result of less competent filmmakers than those responsible for the original movie, the absence of actors who starred in the original, or low budgets.

But it’s not just good or successful movies that get sequels. There are many  sequels of  movies that weren’t generally well received in the first place, and those are also often bad. This is the case predominantly in the horror or comedy genres, which are often lower-budget films.

Of course, sometimes, filmmakers get it right, making top-rated sequels. These are the 25 best movie sequels of all time.

Click here to see the 25 worst movie sequels of all time

To determine the worst movie sequels, 24/7 Tempo developed an index based on several measures from the Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes. The index is a composite of the movies’ IMDb rating, Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score. All ratings were weighted equally. 

Only films with at least 20,000 reviews on IMDb and 2,000 audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were considered. Data was collected mid-March 2021. Supplemental data on domestic box office and production budgets by movie came from industry data site the Numbers.