As the saying goes, lightning doesn't strike twice. The film industry is one of the best examples of this phenomenon. At the end of the day, movies are about money, and when a studio finds themselves with a hit, the obvious impulse is to make a sequel. Audiences also clearly enjoy the familiarity of sequels.

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For most movie franchises, sequel after sequel only leads to diminishing returns. Some series struck gold with their first outing and only struck out from there.

10 Jaws Is A Masterpiece, The Sequels, Not So Much

Jaws' shark

The release of Jaws was the birth of the blockbuster and the wide release. The film played on 450 screens across America during its initial runs, since everyone wanted to see it. No one could blame them — rising from the ashes of a tumultuous production, the film is masterpiece of suspense that holds up almost 50 years on.

Each sequel lost more and more of the original creative team. Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss didn't return for 1978's Jaws 2, and Roy Scheider opted out of Jaws 3-D in 1983. This culminated in 1987's Jaws: The Revenge, a film so abysmal the franchise has been dormant since. As star Michael Caine described it — "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

9 Halloween Has Run Out Of Steam

The Original Poster For Halloween 1978

The first Halloween has one of the most profitable disparities between production budget (roughly $300,000) and box office returns ($70 million). This means even though the film was meant as a stand-alone film, sequels were soon to follow. John Carpenter and Debra Hill's plans for a Halloween anthology were also killed when Halloween 3 excluded Michael Myers and flopped.

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Halloween was made with no greater mythology beyond being a haunted house thrill ride. The sequels have been left in an awkward position — any attempt to expand on the setting usually falls flat (as Halloween IIHalloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers, and Halloween Kills show), but just emulating the original's formula won't breed another masterpiece.

8 Alien Was Lightning In A Bottle

Alien Chestburster 1979

Alien does actually some worthy sequels in its pocket. James Cameron's Aliens took the series in a very different, adrenaline-soaked direction while honoring the original. Despite David Fincher disowning the film, Alien 3 has been receiving reappraisal since the 2003 Assembly Cut. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant have their fans too. However, none of these films have been able to equal the mystery, horror, and depth of Scott's original. The Chestburster scene alone is a nightmarish masterpiece.

7 Terminator Has Seen Diminishing Returns

The Terminator

The Terminator is a perfect standalone film. Fitting for a time travel film, the story ends on a perfect closed loop of causality, with no loose ends untied. None of the sequels, not even the beloved T2, can match the lean and mean efficiency of the first. In spite of this, studios kept trying to reboot the franchise, each attempt dying on the vine quicker than the last. Even James Cameron and Linda Hamilton's return for Terminator: Dark Fate was enough to save that film.

6 Back To The Future Is Airtight

Back To The Future Poster.

Few films are as airtight as Robert Zemeckis' Back To The Future. Every joke lands and there's not a hole in the script. The sequels have their charms, especially the second with parodies the tendencies of sequels to recycle the original by having the characters literally stumble through the plot of the first. However, neither of them are nearly as tight as the first. It's for the best that no further sequels have been made since Part III.

5 Jurassic Park Hasn't Recaptured The Magic Of The Original

Jurassic Park poster

Jurassic Park is Spielberg at his best. Its use of groundbreaking CGI to render dinosaurs also makes it a defining moment in the history of special effects. While the first film demonstrates movie magic with compare, the sequels simply bank on the majesty of seeing dinosaurs brought to life alongside humanity. There's scarce innovation to the concept, barring a T. Rex being let loose in San Francisco during the third act of The Lost World.

4 The Hannibal Lecter Series Drops Off After The First Movie

The Silence Of The Lambs

Michael Mann had previously adapted Red Dragon as Manhunter, featuring Brian Cox as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. However, Thomas Harris' work earned a much more famous adaptation in 1991. Jonathan Demme directed The Silence Of The Lambs, starring Anthony Hopkins as Lecter and Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling. It's rare for a film to get even one performance as good as both of Silence's leads are.

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Hopkins himself is the one through-line from Silence to its sequel (excluding Frankie Faison as orderly Barney Matthews). Hannibal is indulgent and Red Dragon squanders a good script and excellent cast thanks to direction on par with a CSI episode.

3 The Matrix Is An Untouchable Classic

The Original Matrix's cast

The Matrix is the type of bold blockbuster that doesn't get made anymore. It's an entirely original idea, has bracing imagination in both its world building and craftsmanship, and there's a powerful allegory about capitalist automatization underling everything. The sequels don't pack the same punch. Compared to the (ironically enough) machine like efficiency of the first film, the Matrix sequels spend too much time running in circles.

2 Pirates Of The Caribbean Got Worse After Gore Verbinski Jumped Ship

Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-The-Curse-of-the-Black-Pearl-Header

Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl overcame long odds — pirate movies being out of style, the source material being a theme park, and Disney's own trepidation about the project and director Gore Verbinski. The sequels definitely aren't held in the same esteem as the first. Granted, it's only after Verbinski's departure that the series became downright soulless — Dead Man's Chest and At World's End may be overlong and messy, but they're visually stunning. If only said visuals were in a tighter package.

1 Daniel Craig's James Bond Didn't Get Better Than Casino Royale

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Casino Royale

Taking a page from Batman Begins and The Bourne IdentityCasino Royale redefined James Bond. After the embarrassing finale of the Pierce Brosnan era, Die Another DayCasino Royale's stripped down approach was needed. None of Craig's other outings lived up to it. Quantum Of Solace and Spectre have their moments but mostly do not work. Skyfall is well-made but also more fantastical and less raw than Casino RoyaleNo Time To Die sticks the landing in concluding Craig's journey, even if the journey towards that end is a tad messy.

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