It’s Hollywood logic to try bleed more money from a stone. Whenever there’s a successful franchise, it’s natural for studios to stay safe and invest in more of the same product and produce as many sequels, prequels, TV shows, and reboots of the property. However, every so often, Tinseltown fails to catch lighting in a bottle a second time. Not every movie deserves 815 more iterations of the same story.
That is especially true for today’s standards, when nearly every major studio film being released is part of a franchise or trying to start one. Not only are some of the films on this list are pretty terrible spin-offs, they’re considered some of the worst films ever made. Here are 10 of the worst spin-offs of all time, according to IMDb.
Elektra (4.7)
One of the biggest problems with 2003’s Daredevil was that the film tried to cram years of the hero’s storylines into a barely two-hour movie. Since the film was so divisive amongst fans, someone got the bright idea to spin-off the film anyway. Jennifer Garner starred in the spin-off Elektra.
Resurrections in comic books happen all of the time, especially when it comes to Elektra, so that wasn’t the issue. What was the issue is that long before trolls started the criticism that “no one asked for this,” unfortunately no one asked for subpar spinoff based on a subpar film.
The Next Karate Kid (4.4)
When the highlight of your film is a montage of monks dancing to the Cranberries’ “Dreams,” you probably should’ve thought of a better way to relaunch The Karate Kid franchise.
Kudos to the producers for going the female route, long before that was en vogue and The Next Karate Kid is actually considered the first breakout role of Hilary Swank’s career. But there is nothing memorable about this movie.
Supergirl (4.4)
While Supergirl was one of the first superhero movies with a girl as the lead heroine, the film didn’t do much to further the superhero genre at all. Helen Slater in her debut role plays Kara, as she seeks to stop the witch Selena from using the Omegahedron.
She also has to fight some sort of shadow demon that Selena can summon. It took about thirty years, but TV is finally doing the Girl Of Steel right, thanks to Melissa Benoist and the Arrowverse TV show.
Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li (3.7)
The original Street Fighter film was an abomination but since it served as the incomparable Raul Julia’s final film, it has developed a bit of a following in a so good its bad kind of way. No one expected, wanted, or asked for another movie. Fans were perfectly content playing the video games.
Yet over a decade after the original debacle, Kristin Kreuk was cast to play the titular character in The Legend Of Chun-Li. According one critic, this movie makes the original look like Gone With The Wind. The movie serves as a reminder that not all video games deserve to be a movie.
Dumb And Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (3.4)
In 1994, Jim Carrey had the gift of Solomon, as everything he touched was gold - Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb And Dumber remain three of his funniest movies to date.
Much like the eventual sequel to Dumb And Dumber, there was no way that Eric Christian Olsen would be able to channel that frenetic energy of Lloyd Christmas for the prequel. Nor could Derek Richardson embody Harry. The original movie was very much of its time. A prequel nearly a decade later - not so much.
Catwoman (3.3)
Long before DCEU fans bemoaned the current DC movies, they were (rightfully) bailing on another one. Somehow, DC was able to zap all of the fun and sultriness out of Selina Kyle for the long-gestating Catwoman movie, which starred Oscar winner Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, and Benjamin Bratt. All in all, not a bad trio. So what went wrong?
First, the entire origins of a cat burglar/vixen are heaved out the window and replaced with an Egyptian Cat Mythology. That mythology would have worked if it was a little more thought out and the movie itself wasn’t just an excuse to feature the gorgeous Berry in as little clothing as possible.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (3.3)
As both Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger were coming up in the business, they co-starred in this re-imagining (which used to be the word for reboot) of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film was not well-received and probably wasn’t going to see the light of the day.
But then McConaughey gained notoriety for Dazed And Confused, Zellweger for Jerry Maguire and the studio then decided to release the schlocky horror flick as an attempt to get some quick cash.
Steel (2.8)
John Henry Irons was one of the bright spots in Reign Of The Supermen storyline that ran throughout all of the Superman books in 1993. The character used his engineering smarts to construct a Superman suit. Steel was rapidly becoming a fan favorite and role model hero, and a film was fast tracked to coincide with the failed Superman Lives reboot.
Starring Shaq, the movie didn’t feature any of the folksy elements of John Henry Irons, or the Superman mythos.
Dragonball Evolution (2.5)
Dragonball and all of its subsequent sequels is one of the most globally beloved set of cartoons. With anything possible in the world of special effects, a live action adaptation could have been a complete and proverbial “assault on the senses.”
Instead what fans got was a movie that made Super Mario Bros. look like one of the greatest movies ever made. Emmy Rossum, who has been at the top of her game on Shameless for years now, must have fired her agent for convincing her to be a part of this.
Son Of The Mask (2.2)
Like any successful superhero movie, the stage was set for another Mask adventure. The old Nintendo Power magazine even had a contest for one lucky reader to get a walk-on role. And then Jim Carrey bailed on it. The eventual sequel, Son Of The Mask, had zero to do with the original, which was the only smart choice this film made.
The real movie would be the story of how stars Alan Cumming and Jamie Kennedy survived the critical and commercial backlash to have their careers continue.
