10 Movie Sequels With Massively Improved Rotten Tomatoes Scores

Want to make a better sequel? Cast The Rock.

fast and furious fast five rotten tomatoes
Universal Pictures/Emily Oberman, Throast (Wikimedia Commons)

In life, there are three inevitabilities. One, it's definitely coming home at some point. Two, if you live in England and plan a summer BBQ, it will rain on that day. And three, a good, well-received movie will get a sequel.

But what if a movie isn't so well-received? Making a followup to one of these flicks is a whole different ball game altogether. The real possibility of nobody caring about another in the series - and the chance of it losing money - makes sequel-izing a not-so-beloved movie a hugely risky move, but when it pays off, it's truly a sight to behold.

This has happened a lot throughout Hollywood history; a movie comes out and does poorly or just okay with critics (even if it's good), only for the sequel to come along and blow that reception out of the water, with the Rotten Tomatoes scores to prove it.

Some of the leaps in quality between these movies is staggering, and the review aggregator is a good place to see which sequels managed to prove this with an absolute critical storming.

10. Quantum Of Solace (65%) To Skyfall (92%)

fast and furious fast five rotten tomatoes
Sony Pictures/MGM

Score Difference: 27%

After Pierce Brosnan's cheesy, borderline parodic Bond stint came to an end, the franchise was in a bad place. The Bourne Identity had made the light-hearted spy caper look like an antique, so for 007's next major outing, the filmmakers looked to switch things up in a big way.

And switch things up they did, with the brutal, bloody and unforgiving Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's first movie as Bond and one that reaffirmed the series' place as Hollywood's premier super-spy franchise.

Sadly, direct sequel Quantum Of Solace couldn't live up to that high bar, lacking the emotional intensity, stellar villain and smoothly-filmed action Casino Royale was able to offer - Bond was in a bit of a pickle once again.

Enter director Sam Mendes and 2012's Skyfall, not only one of Craig's best Bond movies, but one of the best ever, smartly subverting genre expectations at every conceivable turn and delivering one of the best movie baddies in recent memory with Javier Bardem's Silva.

Critics heaped unanimous praise upon the film, easily besting Quantum's decent 65% Rotten Tomatoes score with an incredible 92%.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.