I've honestly thought about this for while, and we all have sequels that seem to have a lot going for them. I just always wondered what people thought on the subject. I know this might be reaching a bit, but I've always been extremely disappointed by Back to the Future Part III. The summer of 1989 is always talked about for it's absurd openings, 3 films in 4 weeks to beat the opening weekend record. But what most people overlook is that part II also past the opening weekend record that same year, but it was during November. It was downright unheard of at the time. It increased over Rocky IV by almost 35% and had better averages even than Batman, Indy and ghostbusters II. To this day Part II is still the biggest 5day average for 5 day openings. And most people seem to love Part III. Thought of course I'm in the minority that part II was better. part III's opening and final gross just always seemed to bug me, especially since it's one of the few trilogies that anyone will always say is beloved.

My question for you though, what film's sequel box office is the most disappointing for you?

I realize this will do better if I start a poll, but I really don't know if I can dwindle down 20 films. Die Hard 5 and T3 would definitely be on my list though. Jurassic Park III as well. I''m hoping more people will get in on it.

Rambo III and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Rambo III absolutely, I mean I didnt like it like most. But it was still a lot of fun with some great action scenes, but for it to barely top the admissions of the first always boggled me too. I chuck that up to Stallone bombing so badly at the time, despite making some solid underrated films. Which is why always use BTTFP3 when comaring films so close. I mean people still like part II, not Matrix Reloaded, Dead Means Chest, but that's the reason I'll always say drop off. I honestly think the close time frame between films made part III not gross 120+

You know what I even take that back. Part III Rambo was still almost on league with the first SW overseas. But for it to drop almost 80% in admissions from part II is just ridiculous. People still love Part II. Me and Algren should really go further into the downfall of Stallone domestically. It has honestly never made sense to me.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End because I love it.

Overall, a fine performance despite the significant dropoff from Dead Man's Chest domestically. $309 million / $654 million / $963 million is obviously huge, especially in 2007 (#4 Overseas, #5 Worldwide), but there were some annoying decisions made by Disney. They really wanted it to be released ASAP.

1. The May release date. Yes, July had Transformers and Harry Potter, but the latter had a stable fanbase that really wouldn't have mattered, and competing against both Spider-Man 3 and Shrek 3 at the same time both domestically and overseas definitely hurt it more than Transformers would have. Or even postponing it until 2008 would have been a wise choice. The Dark Knight would have hurt it domestically (maybe less than the Spider-Man 3/Shrek 3 combo, though), but opening the July 4th weekend would have been fine. The release date likely prevented it from achieving $1 billion worldwide.

2. The 8PM Thursday Previews. Before last year (or the year before?) any previews starting before midnight were counted separately from the opening Friday. So, the $13.2 million At World's End earned in previews was subtracted from it's opening day. Had that figure been included in the opening, it would have had a $56.2 million opening day (#2 All-Time in 2007).

Back to the Future III
Superman Returns

For the opposite reasons; Transformers 2 & 3.

I also want to be first to mention Kung-Fu Panda 2. It's not as good as the first, but man was its run baffling. It didn't deserve that much of a drop.

Licence to Kill

The first movie to come to mind is Narnia 2.

^

RAMBO III, also. BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III isn't a shock to me because it's a western and it came out only eight months after PART II confused a sizable chunk of the audience.

Yes! And American Pie 4 a year later too.

Yes Part III out so soon after II hurt it. Anything under a year usually hurts the latter film - ie. AWE and Revolutions.

I like the spelling.

Though it would not be at the top of my list, I still remember At World's End to be the first $300+ million domestic grosser, which (IMO) still had a slightly disappointing performance.

Definitely, not only because it was probably the best Bond film since The Spy Who Loved Me, it did poorly only for being released in the most absurd summer ever. And of course ruined any chance at Dalton doing more.

Superman IV will always live in infamy as well. It is almost insulting that the studios would let something like that ever happen. That would never happen today, not saying part III wasn't a bad performance either. But to think that a Superman film with the same cast as part one, which adjusts to 450 million today, only adjusts to 31 million. When you think of sequels to Jaws, even Rocky or Beverly HIlls Cop III, it is ludicrous

Beverly Hills Cop III as well. I mean the movie is absolute shit, but come on. The last film to this day is an R rated film that held the opening weekend record. Murphy had only had one disappointing film box office wise. And he took 2 years off between Boomerang and BHCIII. It had an 18 million 4 day weekend and only grossed 42 million, in 1994! And it basically killed R rated Eddie Murphy's career. Boo on so many levels!

Back to the Future 2 and 3.




Gremlins 2 should come to mind. While I am not a fan of the movie how the hell did it sell only 10m tickets to the firsts 45m?



Narnia: Prince Caspian for recent movies.



Oh how did someone not mention this. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

DOMESTIC:

Matrix Revolutions
Happy Feet 2
Attack of the Clones
Kung Fu Panda 2
Batman Returns
Cars 2

Well it came 6 years after the original and it was VERY different in atmosphere and more oriented towards comedy and parody so no wonder audience kinda rejected it.

This would probably be my answer too, at least in recent memory.

I'd Put The Final Frontier well before STID, Nemesis too. Not including the 1989 films, Star Trek would have had the 7th biggest opening of all time. And 3 of the previous 4 had the biggest openings of their year, and 2 of them held the record for biggest opening of all time. And Part 4 is considered one of the best of the series. It too got lost in the shuffle of 1989, but to drop almost 60% in admissions over Voyage Home was insane for arguably the most consistent franchise after SW and Indy. I do believe it was the first ever 15+ opener to not do at least a 3 multiplier.

Nemesis was disappointing because it was a solid film, but TTT murdered it. But it worked out for Paramount in the end to bring the franchise to new heights again.

1989, as much as it is known for all of the great sequels, and big numbers it also had some real turkey numbers for the franchises: Another one. The Karate Kid Part III. Less than 30% admissions of Part II.

Domestically for animated movie I still can't put my mind around two of them Kung Fu Panda 2 and Happy Feat 2. I know the former had very bland marketing and the later was just too late but the decreases they got was REALLY big.

Empire Strikes Back.

I mean, wasn't Star Wars the big 70s phenomenon that everybody loved and made $307m? and then the sequel to it made a measly $209m.

I understand that Star Wars didn't make $307m in one run, but neither did Empire make $209 in one run. There were loads of reissues and expansions to get it there. But still much less in gross.

I think this would qualify as disappointing. But The Return of the Jedi did surprisingly well.

Happy Feet 2's dismal performance was a lot of things, too much time elapsed, marketing.

But the biggest I feel is all around terrible release date. 5 family films opened in 5 weeks in Oct/Nov 2011. Puss In Boots, Hugo, Happy Feet, Arthur Christmas, and Happy Feet. Some of the worst movie scheduling I can recall in the past few years.