10 Movies Everybody Wanted (But Nobody Watched)

1984's Gremlins was a massive box office hit, grossing an incredible $212.9 million against a mere $11 million budget, and clearly suggesting a new Hollywood franchise had been born.

Yet it was an entire six years before the sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, arrived, and while there was plenty of initial demand for a second Gremlins, by 1990 interest had seemingly waned considerably.

The kids who found Gizmo adorable in 1984 were now older and seemingly less interested (the heathens), while the sequel's heavily satirical, tongue-in-cheek tone caught many remaining fans of the original by surprise, as the first film was more of a darkly comedic horror film.

As such, while saddled with a heftier $50 million budget, Gremlins 2 ended up grossing a poor $41.5 million worldwide.

This was ultimately a textbook example of both what happens when you leave audiences waiting too long for a sequel, and when you deviate from the expected sequel formula.

Gremlins 2 later found itself cult fandom on home video, though the fact that it grossed less than 20% of the first film while being produced at over four-fold the cost is nothing if not an abject failure.