10 Awesome Movies With Disappointing Sequels

2. Ghostbusters

1984 was a pretty good year for action comedies, with Beverly Hills Cop, Gremlins and Romancing The Stone all scoring big at the global box office. But the pick of the bunch is Ghostbusters, which after more than 30 years is still one of the best written and most brilliantly cast films you’ll ever see. It has a shot at being Bill Murray’s finest hour, which is really saying something.

It was a different story when, five years later, Ghostbusters II opened to widespread disappointment and indifference. One critic called it “such a lazy effort that the formula machinery is laid bare for all to see. It suffers from writing that that is obvious, sloppy and unimaginative.”

Fortunately, it was up against the likes of Look Who’s Talking and Lethal Weapon 2 at the box office, and without a decent comedy to expose its shortcomings, the picture went on to make $112 million worldwide. But the experience imparted a valuable lesson: Ghostbusters is a one-of-a-kind movie, and you can’t bottle lightning.

Paul Feig, take note.