10 Movie "Sequels" That Were Really Just Remakes
8. Superman Returns
The "Sequel": Following Christopher Reeve's Superman and Superman II but kindly forgetting the two other sequels, Superman Returns sees the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) return to Earth after a five-year absence, to find Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) living her own life while Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) hatches another diabolical plan.
Why It's Just A Remake: Wikipedia actually lists Superman Returns as the ever-rare "homage sequel", because it lifts so much from the original movie in terms of plot (Lex Luthor's wacky real estate scam), characters (Parker Posey's Kitty Kowalski is basically the new Ms. Teschmacher), themes, actual dialogue and music, while still fashioning itself as a chronological follow-up.
Hell, even the performances by Routh and Spacey are basically impersonations of Reeve and Gene Hackman. Yes, the movie does have a number of superfluous additions (namely Superman having a son), but this was clearly a case of a nervous studio deciding to largely rehash the first movie rather than try something wholly new.
It's not a bad movie, but it's far too eager to nod to the original, and a blatant case of fanboy-driven filmmaking run amok.