2024 Movie Sequels Ranked: Did We Need Any of Them?

In Hollywood, the question is: “Does this movie franchise need another chapter?” There seems to be a pretty easy answer. “Of course, if you still think you can make money!”

But for fans of a particular franchise, the math is more complicated. Will the new installment in the film series actually add something valuable to the story, or will it undermine the original success of the franchise? Do we actually want to know more about our favorite characters, or will sequels and spinoffs ruin them? Is there any reason to believe that newer movies with familiar IPs have a reason for being other than being completely mercenary? At least it’s stupid fun, right?

So far, 2024 has not provided many positive answers to these questions. But some of this year’s franchise films did more at the box office than others. So we decided to crunch the numbers and rank the latest series movies of the year. I ranked them based on how well they justify their existence, either as a movie or as an installment in an ongoing story.

10. Strangers: Chapter 1

Image: Lionsgate Films/Everett Collection

It is a remake of the 2008 home invasion horror film. strangers It wasn’t necessary, but it could have been nice. Based on the premise of “a masked stranger breaks into a remote house and kills a couple vacationing there,” there are a million different takes that could have been the subject of an otherwise epic scare. Don’t follow the original movie beat for beat’s sake. Unfortunately, it was an uninspired approach by director Renny Harlin (die hard 2), with the film being the first film in a planned trilogy that was originally written as a sprawling four-hour-plus film, Legendary Entertainment split the film into several pieces.

This new Stranger Things film series will follow the characters in the aftermath of an initial home invasion. But it begins with Harlin essentially recreating his first work. Stranger Less style and less fear. Gone are the slow creepy moments of the original film, replaced by rushed horror scenes and a few moments of lackluster action. Parts 2 and 3 may somehow salvage the kickoff, but Chapter 1 It’s nothing more than a much worse reproduction of an effective shocker. —Austin Gosselin

Image: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection

Madame Web It’s only loosely connected to Sony’s already loosely connected universe of Marvel characters. Ironically, the tagline ‘Her web connects them all’ was the central focus of all the teasers. One thing this does offer longtime fans of the current live-action Spider-Man story is a tease of Peter Parker’s existence. This has always been a big question mark with Sony’s Marvel movies. Paramedic Cathy Webb (Dakota Johnson) is friends with Uncle Ben (who is hot, young, but not yet dead in a morally instructive way). Except the movie doesn’t really acknowledge it. Ben’s newborn nephew is Peter Parker. Suppressing that detail is a bit much. It’s almost zero sum, but not generous enough to feel any sense of accomplishment.

With unnatural dialogue and meaningless plot, Madame Web It’s not a good movie at all. At least it’s the kind of terrible movie that’s fun to watch in a group setting, telling jokes and coordinating the slow parts? it is more or less cat For superhero fans. —Petrana Radulovic

Photo: Sony Pictures

The sequel to the reboot brings a new generation of Ghostbusters (Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and more) back to New York and brings back the original characters (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie). Potts, etc.) is more than just a glorified cameo. It might be enough to make it a must-have for superfans, but for everyone else, it’s a nostalgic reminder of the original film that doesn’t really add much or stand out except for the maybe-queer storyline of the Grace character featuring a cute ghost girl. This is a callback. —promotion

Image: Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection

The fourth installment in Michael Bay’s series began unintentionally with his directorial debut. bad boys Many of the cast returned in 1995. Mainly Bad Boys, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. But the filmmakers clearly think Bad Boys fans want more continuity than that. Screenwriters Chris Bremner and Will Beall do their best to build a Fast & Furious -style Bad Boys universe, building on all the character work and villain stories they could scrape together from the previous three films.

That’s not a compliment. Many blockbuster films suffer because studios try to launch profitable franchises instead of telling decent stories. Ride or die The assumption is that audiences are coming to the theater armed with nostalgia and a fascination for detailed knowledge, rather than a desire to see two talented comedic actors jawing at each other between frenetic action sequences. Fans who care deeply about the posthumous legacy of Joe Pantoliano’s character, this is your movie. But mostly franchise building gets in the way of fun. —TR

Image: 20th Century Studios

The fourth film in the new era of Planet of the Apes films (the tenth Planet of the Apes film if you tie them all together) doesn’t add much to the franchise’s ongoing narrative. Disappointingly half-baked and surprisingly familiar with previous entries; war for the planet of the apes, but a gorilla dictator is running a forced labor camp instead of humans. The powerful ideas that history repeats itself, that communities are stronger than individuals, and that those communities must band together to resist tyrants, are at play, but they are not communicated particularly clearly, especially as they are mixed in with other ideas. It’s about a thread, a personal journey that is undercut by everyone. Kingdom About advertising, and the unreliability and unknowability of humanity.

Kingdom It’s an action blockbuster with impressive visual effects and charming characters. It’s not a bad or boring entry in the series. It never feels essential, and it feels like it’s doing a lot more than just mirroring the more propulsive and dynamic earlier entries in this run in the Apes story. —TR

Image: Warner Bros. Photography

Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire It feels like a big step forward for the new MonsterVerse franchise. While it is 2014 Godzilla A movie that lightly parodies disaster movies and 2017 movies. Kong: Skull Island The same goes for dark war movies. Godzilla x Kong It’s a buddy movie about a giant ape and a nuclear lizard who don’t really like each other, but have to join forces to fight an even bigger monster. It’s inevitably goofy and uncomplicatedly fun.

But what makes this franchise especially fun right now is that it has a secret weapon: television. The big screen may be reserved for silly monster fights, but the MonsterVerse’s TV shows are Monarch: Legacy of Monstersis a much more introspective, character-driven family drama that feels more like an old-fashioned adventure movie with giant monsters. new empire, with the added bonus that the film’s story means Hong Kong will appear in the show’s next season. The MonsterVerse is a strange franchise, but as long as every entry continues to prove to be fun, it’s very hard to complain. —AG

Image: Universal Pictures/Everett Collection

The adventures of panda kung fu master Po (Jack Black) could have ended in the series’ third installment in 2016, but Kung Fu Panda 4 Adding a little P.S. Now, if DreamWorks decides to go that route, the door is open for another unexpected hero to take over the franchise. Basically, Po will eventually retire from the title of Dragon Warrior and his disciple will take up the mantle. (It certainly didn’t work that way in the first movie, but I digress.) His heir, the cunning, thieving fox Zhen (Awkwafina), is actually a pretty cool character. I wouldn’t be too upset about seeing more of her!

The fourth film in the animated series Kung Fu Panda 4 It’s quite enjoyable and mostly suffers from wasted potential. But the fight scenes are still awesome, and the humor is entertaining enough, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the original. —promotion

Image: 20th Century Studio/Everett Collection

first sign There is a complicated addition to this list. On the one hand, no. necessary, really. And the worst moment comes near the end of the movie. At this point, the implicit connection to the original film series becomes more apparent than ever. first sign However, a completely different version of this indicator earns it its place on this list. Omen may be the best film in the series, so it’s basically a must.

What’s even better is that director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson (new cherry flavor) In fact, just making his origins this confusing retroactively enhances the rest of Damien’s story. first sign is simply a great horror movie, which is more than we can say about most of the franchise entries on this list. That’s why this movie is near the top. —AG

Image: Warner Bros. Entertainment/YouTube

angry It’s the rare prequel that not only feels identical to the hit movie it’s being set up for, but also feels like it’s adding important context rather than gilding the lily. I conceived and wrote it at the same time. Max Max: Fury Road So it will be consistent with the story and character of the film. angry It tells a unique story and answers the question of who is who, rather than needlessly filling in the blanks of how these characters got here. Fury RoadWhat is ’s most compelling new character and why she’s on par with Max? But more importantly, it’s a lot of fun in its own right. —TR

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

The second half (or middle third, if you’re lucky) by Denis Villeneuve. sand dune The adaptation has advantages that none of the other films on this list have. This movie isn’t just an adjunct to another movie, it’s an important continuation of the opening movie that mostly sets up and builds up to this payoff.

Aside from the compelling performances and visuals, epic battles, and captivating shifts in perspective—leaving aside the fact that this is one of the best movies of 2024 so far. Dune: Part 2 It gets #1 on this list purely because it’s such an integral part of the franchise’s story. Not only does it contribute something new to the franchise, it’s a cornerstone of a story that Villeneuve hopes to tell more of one day. —TR