10 Movie Sequels With Massively Improved Rotten Tomatoes Scores
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (37%) To The Wolverine (69%)
Score Difference: 32%
The palpable hype and excitement leading up to 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn't do the messy final product any favours, and despite a spirited performance from the always-reliable Hugh Jackman, it was more X-Men: The Last Stand than X-Men 2.
On the plus side, this forced Fox to go back to the drawing board and carefully evaluate their approach to making future solo Wolverine movies. Four years later, they redeemed the character, delivering one of the better X-Men movies in the process.
The Wolverine was a stripped-down examination of Logan's mental state and physicality, and it was all the better for it. It didn't feel the need to cram in numerous other superheroes, like Origins did. It didn't try to build out a cinematic universe, a trap plenty of other movies fall into. It was a tight, focused, entertaining blockbuster with about as much fat on its bones as Hugh Jackman has covering his delicious abs.
The final act was a bit poor, but by that point, The Wolverine had already done enough to earn high praise from critics, resulting in a 69% Tomatometer score.