10 Sequels That Stupidly Changed The Main Character

The Original: There's not really a single main character to the first Independence Day. It's an ensemble, with the film spending pretty much equal time with David Levinson, President Whitmore Randy Quaid and more. But c'mon, if we're being serious, it's really Steven Hiller. He may be the last one introduced in the film, but from the moment he sees the saucer of LA he's the dominant force, fully embodying the semi-serious tone of the film and giving the generic sci-fi inflections real energy.

The Sequel: Here's another follow-up that Jeff Goldblum wound up taking lead duties on simply because the real original lead chose to not come back, and the result makes The Lost World look like Independence Day (and Independence Day like Jurassic Park). Golblum is the arrow-head of the ensemble this time, but simply doesn't have the same Will Smith charisma to hold up a very bland set; he's linked to all of them - Liam Hemsworth's pilot, Jessie Usher as Will Smith's pilot son and Maika Monroe as Whitmore's pilot daughter (Roland Emmerich has a thing for pilots) - but it never feels real, and the film fumbles on a character level as a result.

Levinson worked great in the original, but he's just not got enough to carry a full movie (exactly like Ian Malcolm).