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Nearly all of the biggest box-office hits in U.S. history were part of a film series… think Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Harry Potter movies. In fact, so few of them are standalone films - which neither had nor were sequels - that we think you’ll find it surprisingly difficult to name the top ten. Take today’s lunchtime quiz and prove us wrong.
Then return here to comment to this post with your score. While you’re at it, let us know which feature-film sequels weren’t worth their salt, and which movies should have been continued with a Part II but weren’t. Personally, I’ve always wanted to know how Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) got along in the “real world” after Cast Away. What about you?
I didn’t do so well.
Um, Titanic, hello?!?!?! I want to see Rose’s life after Titanic, it looked really exciting!
The third Godfather was pretty awful. Did not at all match up to the second two.
posted by Courtney on 4-16-2008 at 10:51 am
8/10
I missed ET and The Sixth Sense. I really didn’t believe that Independence Day would be one of them, and typed it in as a joke. Ha.
posted by Bethany on 4-16-2008 at 11:09 am
Geez - worst score EVER! As for sequels, how about ‘The Seventh Sense?’ Probably wouldn’t fare so well at the box office, though, as interested parties would view it remotely from home… (sorry, that was pretty bad even by my questionable humor standards).
posted by Roger on 4-16-2008 at 11:19 am
Wow, that was a stumper. Ended up with 6/10 and am proud of it! Missed Transformers (2009 can’t get here soon enough!), ID4, ET and Passion
posted by Kevin on 4-16-2008 at 11:24 am
3/10 That was hard.
Though you will pleased to know that The Terminal was actually the sequel to Castaway. Turns out that Chuck Noland didn’t do so well, slipping into madness, forging paperwork to pass himself off as a his foreign national alter ego. A deeply tragic and weird film once you realize that.
posted by EMStoveken on 4-16-2008 at 11:34 am
7/10. I keep forgetting there is no sequel to The Passion of the Christ. J/K can’t believe I missed that one, The Lion King and Independence Day.
posted by scott on 4-16-2008 at 11:42 am
9/10
I assumed the Lion King 2 counted as a sequel or franchise.
This gives me a great chance to plug one of my favortie sites tho. www.the-numbers.com All sorts of nerdy movie statistics. Like the ROI on Blair Witch Project was a staggering 354,614.29%
posted by Ryan on 4-16-2008 at 11:46 am
There was a Lion King 2 and Lion King 1 1/2. That one shouldn’t count.
I only got four - Transformers, Titanic, Finding Nemo, and Independence Day. What really pissed me off, though, was I knew one had to be by Stephen Spielberg, one had to have Tom Hanks, there must have been one with Bruce Willis, and one had to be a Disney computer animated movie. Yet I tried all of their movies EXCEPT THE RIGHT ONES! Argh!
I completely missed the Passion, though.
posted by Leah on 4-16-2008 at 12:02 pm
I think the question should have been which were the top movies that were not sequels.
Also wasn’t their a Transformers movie before the latest one?
posted by septer on 4-16-2008 at 12:18 pm
I can’t believe I only got two - and it turns out I was the only one who got these two!
Passion of the Christ, Independence Day
posted by Witty Nickname on 4-16-2008 at 12:26 pm
The Lion King “sequels” were direct-to-video, not theatrical releases, so (as per the explanation in the intro) they don’t count.
posted by Sandy on 4-16-2008 at 12:31 pm
6/10
Yeah, the Transformers cartoon, and also, Transformers 2 is currently in pre-production so it won’t be on the list for long.
posted by Bradford on 4-16-2008 at 12:35 pm
But the new live-action Transformers wasn’t a sequel to the old animated movie. A fine line, I know, but you have to make them somewhere!
posted by Sandy on 4-16-2008 at 12:40 pm
E.T. had a sequel…in book form! E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet was written by William Kotzwinkle, published in 1985. I read it when I was a kid. It was about what happens to E.T. when he returns to his planet. It was kinda dark and sad, but it was good sci-fi. He did a great job of describing the planet and its creatures. There’s no way it would’ve worked as a movie.
posted by Nat X on 4-16-2008 at 12:56 pm
EMStoveken:
Please tell me you’re joking , , ,
posted by Incredulous on 4-16-2008 at 1:41 pm
6/10. i missed lion king for the same reason everybody else seemed to, and i missed independence day and the terminal and sixth sense. probably because they were terrible movies. i must have blocked them out of my memory…
posted by lindsay m on 4-16-2008 at 2:06 pm
9/10. I missed The Lion King since I forgot the stipulation about the sequal having to be a THEATRICAL release!
posted by Eli on 4-16-2008 at 3:04 pm
3/10
I got ET and the Pixars.
As for movies with unneccessary sequels…
How many Police Academy or Bring It On movies do we really need??
posted by Patty on 4-16-2008 at 3:23 pm
7/10
Isn’t Lion King part of a series?
Lion King 2 Return of Jaffar? and Lion King 1 and a half?
posted by Andrew on 4-16-2008 at 3:33 pm
I think Lion King should be disallowed as it had a sequel (albeit DTV). that was why I didn’t list it.
I thought there would be more animated movies on the list, but then I realized that the studios like to milk those for all they are worth with sequels.
terrible sequels:
• crocodile dundee 2 and 3? the 3rd one was especially gawd awful.
• major league 2
• Jewel of the nile
• the sting 2
• lion king 1½ and 2
• National Treasure 2 (the first was good, though)
• how about Father of the bride - ALL of them
• Batman and Robin
well, that is what I can think of off the top of my head.
posted by Brian on 4-16-2008 at 4:00 pm
You’ll have to take Transformers off soon. They’re going to make a sequel. Next year, I think.
posted by Justin on 4-16-2008 at 6:47 pm
8/10. Which just goes to show you that I have no life.
I would have liked to have seen a *good* sequel to the Lion King. But, alas.
posted by Arden on 4-16-2008 at 8:07 pm
3/10 ouch.
Andrew, tisktisk. Lion King 2: Return of Jafar??? Come on now.
posted by Laura on 4-16-2008 at 10:35 pm
10/10!
Here’s my list:
E.T.
Transformers
Sixth Sense
the Passion of the christ
forrest Gump
Incredibles
Finding Nemo
titanic
Independence Day
The Lion King
posted by Vikram K on 4-17-2008 at 1:50 am
10/10!!!
Hail to the King Baby!!!!
posted by Vikram Koppikar on 4-17-2008 at 7:22 am