10 Movie Sequels That Just Copied The Original
5. Escape From L.A.
Set in 1997, John Carpenter’s Escape From New York starred Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, a war hero turned bank robber sent to rescue the President from Manhattan Island, now a maximum security prison.
Set in 2013, Escape From L.A. dispatches Plissken to Los Angeles Island, where undesirables are deported, in order to recover a doomsday device from the President’s daughter. Once again, he’s offered a full pardon if he succeeds in his mission and, once again, he’s given an injection that will kill him unless he completes his task within an allotted time.
“It’s got a lot more to it,” Carpenter said. “I think some people didn’t like it because they felt it was a remake, not a sequel. I suppose it’s the old question of whether you like Rio Bravo or El Dorado better. They’re both essentially the same movie.”
As it turned out, audiences couldn’t have cared less and the movie barely made half its $50 million production budget at the box office.