Summary
- Good comedy sequels are rare, more so than in other genres.
- Characters in great comedies often have perfect endings that make sequels unnecessary.
- Standalone classics like Airplane and The Hangover didn’t need sequels.
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Comedy sequels are less dependable than any other genre, and some classic comedy movies should have been left as standalone movies. A movie’s financial success often dictates whether it gets a sequel or not, but there have been enough underwhelming comedy sequels to prove that story concerns should take precedence. Great comedies often provide perfect endings for their characters which show them overcoming whatever humorous flaw has been holding them back, making a sequel unnecessary.
Good comedy sequels are rare, and good comedy franchises even more so. This is because comedy movies rely on surprise and novelty. Once both of these wear off, the characters might lose their appeal. Comedy characters are usually specifically crafted for their stories. This is also true of characters in other genres, but they tend to be able to slot into new plots with ease. Characters like Austin Powers and Ron Burgundy weren’t designed for multiple different stories. If they were, they would probably be on TV.
Related
10 Best Comedy Movie Sequels, Ranked
Some great comedy movie sequels successfully maintain the essence of their predecessors while taking bold new risks, which is not very easy.
10 The Hangover (2009)
Sequels: The Hangover Part II (2011) & The Hangover Part III (2013)
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The Hangover
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Director Todd Phillips Release Date June 5, 2009 Cast Ed Helms , Heather Graham , Justin Bartha , Zach Galifianakis , Bradley Cooper , Jeffrey Tambor
The first Hangover has a brilliant original premise, and it backs this up with a great script and fun performances all round. The Hangover‘s best quotes are shared among the cast. Bradley Cooper plays the group’s leader, Ed Helms is the hopeless neurotic, and Zach Galifianakis is the unhinged wildcard. This trio strike up a great dynamic as they struggle to piece together the events of their wild bachelor party the night prior.
Although the first movie works so well because the characters are flung into a bizarre situation, it isn’t so bizarre the second and third time around
The Hangover incorporates elements of mystery and action as the wolf pack’s investigation takes them to surprising new places. The sequels couldn’t live up to this element of surprise. Although the first movie works so well because the characters are flung into a bizarre situation, it isn’t so bizarre the second and third time around, so the sequels try to compensate by becoming more crass and ramping up the shock value. The first Hangover movie is about a once-in-a-lifetime event, but the sequels repeat the exact same concept.
9 Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)
Sequels: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) & Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
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Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
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Director Jay Roach Release Date May 2, 1997 Cast Mike Myers , Elizabeth Hurley , Michael York , Mimi Rogers , Robert Wagner , Seth Green , Fabiana Udenio , Mindy Sterling
Austin Powers may be the definitive James Bond parody, and there has been an abundance of contenders since Sean Connery first donned the famous tuxedo for Dr. No in 1962. Austin Powers succeeds where so many other parodies fail by showing a genuine love for Bond. It pokes fun at the melodramatic excess of Bond villains and the secret agent’s penchant for absurd gadgets, but it’s ultimately a fun adventure starring a likable character. In this way, it functions the same as most actual Bond movies.
International Man of Mystery said all there is to say about 007, so the sequels had to come up with new gags that didn’t work quite as well.
Each subsequent Austin Powers movie diluted the success of the first.International Man of Mystery said all there is to say about 007, so the sequels had to come up with new gags that didn’t work quite as well. Mike Myers’ performances are just as fun to watch in the sequels, but parodies usually work best in small bursts. There may be 25 Bond movies to satirize, but International Man of Mystery made the most cutting jokes at the first attempt.
8 Zoolander (2001)
Sequel: Zoolander 2 (2016)
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Zoolander
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Director Ben Stiller Release Date September 28, 2001 Cast Owen Wilson , Ben Stiller , Milla Jovovich , Christine Taylor , Will Ferrell
Zoolander could have used a sequel soon after the first movie came out. There’s no guarantee this would have been a success, but it would have been much more successful than Zoolander 2, which came 15 years later. By the time the sequel eventually rolled around, the cultural moment which Zoolander sought to satirize was long gone. The sequel tried to take a swipe at the new era of celebrity obsession via social media, but it didn’t land many of its jokes.
By the time the sequel eventually rolled around, the cultural moment which Zoolander sought to satirize was long gone.
Zoolander is a simple story about two really, really, ridiculously good-looking male models who put their precious few brain cells together to foil a dastardly fashionista’s plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia. It’s a fun espionage plot with two lovable idiots trying to save the world, but a sequel was never necessary. The jokes about the obscure niche of male supermodels didn’t have the legs for another movie, and Zoolander 2 tried to compensate for this with an endless parade of meaningless celebrity cameos.
7 Airplane! (1980)
Sequel: Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
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Airplane!
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Director Jim Abrahams , David Zucker , Jerry Zucker Release Date July 2, 1980 Cast Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Lloyd Bridges , Peter Graves , Julie Hagerty , Robert Hays , Leslie Nielsen
Airplane is one of the most quotable comedies ever, with Leslie Nielsen in particular on top form as the doctor aboard a passenger jet heading toward a disaster. Nielsen also worked with the comedy filmmaking trio of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker for the Naked Gun movies, but while this hard-boiled detective parody easily set up a franchise, Airplane should have been a standalone movie.
The emotional tension of the first movie was fully resolved by the end, meaning that there was no compelling reason to bring the characters back.
Airplane parodies melodramatic disaster movies, and since disaster movies so rarely have sequels, Airplane could easily have quit at just one movie. More importantly, the emotional tension of the first movie was fully resolved by the end, meaning that there was no compelling reason to bring the characters back. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker turned down the chance to return for Airplane II: The Sequel.
6 Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Sequel: Monsters University (2013)
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Monsters, Inc.
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Director Pete Docter Release Date November 2, 2001 Cast John Goodman , Billy Crystal , Steve Buscemi , James Coburn , Jennifer Tilly , Mary Gibbs
Pixar has had a patchy record with sequels so far. While the Toy Story franchise has turned out a string of hits, other sequels have been less popular. Finding Dory and Incredibles 2 both failed to hit the heights of their predecessors, but Monsters University may be the biggest disappointment of the lot. The prequel might have been doomed from its inception, since Monsters, Inc is such a perfect standalone children’s movie.
Sully and Mike’s friendship is pushed to breaking point by the introduction of Boo, but the story provides a wonderful emotional payoff.
Monsters, Inc is a monster movie parody, a story of two mismatched friends and a workplace comedy all rolled into one. Sully and Mike’s friendship is pushed to breaking point by the introduction of Boo, but the story provides a wonderful emotional payoff. Not only do the characters learn more about themselves and each other, but they are able to teach the entire world of monsters that scaring children is no longer necessary. This meant a sequel was pointless, and the prequel that followed was just as unnecessary. Pixar’s upcoming movies are a mix of sequels and original stories.
5 Mary Poppins (1964)
Sequel: Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
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Mary Poppins
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Director Robert Stevenson Release Date June 18, 1965 Cast Karen Dotrice , Glynis Johns , Dick Van Dyke , David Tomlinson , Julie Andrews , Matthew Garber
Mary Poppins is synonymous with the magic of classic Disney movies. The musical fable is a lighthearted children’s comedy with plenty of jokes, but it also has a tender emotional core that means it can make audiences cry as well as laugh. The ending was a perfectly bittersweet send-off for the magical nanny, who left the Banks children happier than she found them as she floated off to her next adventure.
The ending was a perfectly bittersweet send-off for the magical nanny, who left the Banks children happier than she found them.
Although this ending, representative of the loss of childhood innocence, shut the door to any potential sequel, Mary Poppins came back over 50 years later. Mary Poppins Returns makes the most of a bad situation. It’s a sequel that nobody called for, but it still captures some of the intangible charm that makes the original so popular. Mary Poppins Returns is a very rare example of an unnecessary sequel surpassing expectations, even if it didn’t live up to the lofty standards of the original.
4 Legally Blonde (2001)
Sequel: Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003) & Legally Blondes (2009)
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Legally Blonde (2001)
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Director Robert Luketic Release Date July 13, 2001 Cast Reese Witherspoon , Luke Wilson , Selma Blair , Matthew Davis , Victor Garber , Jennifer Coolidge
Elle Woods became an instant icon of female empowerment when the first Legally Blonde movie was released. She enrolled in Harvard Law School to prove her ex-boyfriend wrong, but she ended up discovering that proving something to herself was much more important. She gets her happy ending as the class valedictorian, having successfully mounted a legal defense that helped an innocent woman stay out of prison. Her transformation is complete, but a sequel was given the green light nonetheless.
Elle’s transformation is complete at the end of the first movie, but a sequel was given the green light nonetheless.
Now, the franchise seems to be coming back from the dead, with a Legally Blonde prequel TV show and a third film starring Reese Witherspoon both in the works. This suggests that Witherspoon has finally found an interesting way to continue the character’s journey over 20 years later, because her political lobbying in Legally Blonde 2 was not what fans wanted to see.
3 Men In Black (1997)
Sequels: Men in Black II (2002), Men in Black 3 (2012) & MIB: International (2019)
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Men In Black
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Director Barry Sonnenfeld Release Date July 2, 1997 Cast Tommy Lee Jones , Rip Torn , Linda Fiorentino , Will Smith , Vincent D’Onofrio
During the 1990s and 2000s, Will Smith was an unstoppable box office sensation. When Men in Black became a smash hit, a sequel always made financial sense, even if it wasn’t necessary. Men in Black follows Agent J’s journey as he goes from an ordinary NYPD cop to one of the guardians of Earth’s peace amid a universe teeming with hostile life. The sci-fi adventure ends with him ready to mentor the next generation of recruits.
Jones is the ideal straight man to deal with Smith’s madcap style. However, their delightful chemistry wasn’t a good enough reason to bring them back together for a sequel.
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are an unlikely duo in Men in Black, but they develop a hilarious dynamic. Jones is the ideal straight man to deal with Smith’s madcap style. However, their delightful chemistry wasn’t a good enough reason to bring them back together for a sequel. Men in Black II had to undo Agent K’s happy ending and throw him back into the ring. Not only did the sequel fail to live up to the standards of the first movie, but it also undercut its most emotional moment.
2 Ghostbusters (1984)
Sequels: Ghostbusters II (1989), Ghostbusters (2016), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) & Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
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Ghostbusters (1984)
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Director Ivan Reitman Release Date June 8, 1984 Cast Bill Murray , Dan Aykroyd , Sigourney Weaver , Harold Ramis , Ernie Hudson , Rick Moranis
The Ghostbusters franchise has surpassed $1 billion at the box office, so the sequels certainly make good financial sense, even though the story of the original movie would have worked on its own. The rest of the franchise has been struggling to forge a new identity, and it has never matched up to the goofy, lovable comedy of the first movie. The more recent movies are a little less comedic and a little more concerned with spectacle.
The rest of the franchise has been struggling to forge a new identity, and it has never matched up to the goofy, lovable comedy of the first movie.
It’s no wonder that it’s been difficult to match the original Ghostbusters in terms of critical response. Although there are elements of horror, mystery and dark fantasy, Ghostbusters defies simple categorization upon closer inspection. The themes and the message of the movie are obscured behind the comedy. Ghostbusters could be seen as a film about friendship, individualism or courage, but it’s mostly just a platform for some great comedic actors to have a lot of supernatural fun busting spirits.
1 Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Sequel: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
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Director Adam McKay Release Date July 9, 2004 Writers Will Ferrell , Adam McKay
Will Ferrell’s best movies indulge his over-the-top comedic persona, and Anchorman does just this while also surrounding him with a cast that can keep up. Ferrell stars as Ron Burgundy, a self-interested 1970s TV news anchor who enjoys his place in a male-dominated industry. His blissful existence is disturbed when he and his news team are forced to welcome a female co-anchor, played by Christina Applegate.
The characters are all hilarious, and they bounce off one another brilliantly, but they were designed for the story, and no sequel could ever make them feel as relevant or vital.
Anchorman makes fun of a very specific cultural moment, and its characters are not meant to represent real people. Each member of the news team is a ludicrous caricature of masculinity. Brick is a privileged dolt, Brian is a narcissistic hound dog, and Champ’s only emotional connection is to sports. Ron is their leader, an ignorant child who thinks he’s cultured and exotic. These characters are all hilarious, and they bounce off one another brilliantly, but they were designed for the story, and no sequel could ever make them feel as relevant or vital. Anchorman 2 certainly didn’t.