movie sequels sophomore slump

[CTTT]

Why do sequels have such a hard time sticking the landing after the initial movie is a hit? Even more annoying, first movie comes out is great, then sequel sophomore slump then sticks the landing with movie three. Why couldn't you stick the landing with both movies? The only trilogy that I think avoids this problem is Back to the Future. Even with the absence of Crispin Glover, they're still really fun movies that you can always come back to.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I thought this was a good-ish take on the subject.

[Kirby101]

Only BTTF? Star Wars, Terminator, The Godfather, Aliens, From Russia with Love, Winter Soldier...
Making great movies is hard, so following a great movie with another is harder. But it is done.

[AndrewCrossett]

Most good movies get made because someone had a great idea for a good 2-hour story and put everything they had into it. Though some sequels are planned right from the beginning, most are a result of financial considerations... the first one made money, so let's have another one. Then the storytellers often have to come up with another idea on demand and in a much shorter period of time, and it's often different people doing the storytelling. Plus there's the comparison factor... a good movie that follows a great movie usually gets called a disappointment.

[Riv86672]

It doesn’t get much more slumpy than Highlander 2.

[caj]

Only BTTF? Star Wars, Terminator, The Godfather, Aliens, From Russia with Love, Winter Soldier...
Making great movies is hard, so following a great movie with another is harder. But it is done.

Great list. I would also add Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan and X2: X-Men United.

[CTTT]

Great list. I would also add Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan and X2: X-Men United.

Yeah I agree with the list too. I was trying to think of other movies while making my initial post but was drawing a blank and BTTF was the only one that came to mind

[C_Miller]

Only BTTF? Star Wars, Terminator, The Godfather, Aliens, From Russia with Love, Winter Soldier...
Making great movies is hard, so following a great movie with another is harder. But it is done.

The Dark Knight, Before Sunset, Spider-Man 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

[Castle]

I have always assumed sequels stuck to better landing than threequels (third film)

[Will Evans]

It doesn’t get much more slumpy than Highlander 2.

The first movie had a definitive ending (I love the tv show though).

So they had to pull stuff out of their asses for a sequel. And for some reason they wanted Sean Connery back even though Ramirez died already.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

In his screenwriting book "Story", Robert McKee mentioned the law of diminishing returns. That can be used to explain why sequels often don't work.

[GOLGO 13]

Great list. I would also add Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan and X2: X-Men United.

Would add Deadpool 2. Not better than 1 but Ryan Reynolds is a national treasure (in Canada but we love him too) Also, DP2 out grossed DP1 +3 million.

GODZILLA: King Of Monsters was better than 1 with more fighting, screen time for the kaiju's. Looking forward to GZ vs KONG thing month!

[ChrisIII]

I remember BTTF 2 received a bit more criticism back in the day, it's sort of the odd one out in that it doesn't really have a love story, crosses between a lot of different settings, the humor's a bit more goofy (especially the 2015 part) and less based on Marty's anachronisms, and there's not a major dilemma in getting back to the future (at least not until the last few scenes of the movie), just on fixing the altered timeline again.

Now it's generally more accepted and I think the third one gets more criticism.