10 Movie Sequels That Were Basically The Same Movie
These sequels rehashed the original, for better or worse.
It goes without saying that there are few things Hollywood loves more than a sequel, because why risk rolling the dice on a new IP when you can just give the audience more of what they've already enjoyed?
And while the better sequels among the thousands of them generally do something unique and inventive with the original premise - such as flipping it on its head unexpectedly, ala Terminator 2 - some opt to just... do the same damn movie all over again.
That's absolutely the case with each of these 10 sequels, which rehashed the original concept with total, brazen shamelessness. Even though some of these movies were sequels to films with ultra-specific, apparently one-off concepts, the filmmakers were nevertheless bold enough to surmise that audiences would show up for another go-around. And in most cases, regardless of each sequel's overall quality, they were absolutely right.
These sequels did precious little to push the boat out or deviate at all from what came before, instead copy-pasting the original setup into a new location and maybe, just maybe, introducing a few new characters for good measure. Where it matters, though, these films were content to just do the same song and dance once more.
10. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone is such a singular, seemingly unrepeatable concept that the prospect of a sequel seemed hilariously unlikely, but of course, Hollywood knows a gravy train when it sees one.
The original holiday comedy - where young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is accidentally left home alone to fend off a duo of thieves while his family is on vacation - was a box office smash, and so just two years later, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was released.
Despite the fact that no family would ever lose a child twice at the airport, of course it all happens to Kevin again, who once more finds himself crossing paths with thieves Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) for good measure.
Hell, Kevin even gets unexpected assistance from another "creepy" supporting character who is shunned by the locals, switching out the first film's Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom) for the Pigeon Lady (Brenda Fricker).
Both films follow an extremely similar schematic, the major difference being that Kevin is in New York in the sequel rather than Chicago, and it's a toy store being targeted rather than his house. And, to be fair, Home Alone 2 is also way more violent than its predecessor. Fundamentally, though, it's the same movie and absolutely shouldn't have worked twice, but such are the charms of Macaulay Culkin.