20 Recent Movie Sequels We Were ALL Wrong About

There was curiously little hype leading up to the release of last year's Anaconda meta-sequel, which many seemed to dismiss pre-release as "we have Tropic Thunder at home."

It didn't help that the wacky horror-comedy ended up stuck with a PG-13 rating, for while the original 1997 Anaconda was also PG-13, given that anyone with any fondness for that film is likely middle-aged by now, a gory, R-rated follow-up was probably the right way to go.

Expectations weren't high, then, and though it released to relatively mixed reviews, Anaconda 2025 was a mostly entertaining ode to low-budget filmmaking, with a rat-a-tat pace, fun chemistry between its ensemble cast, and a few neat surprises for fans of the original.

Easy though it was to sniff at this film as a mere cynical brand-extension exercise, it at least had a worthwhile creative nugget at its core and largely made the most of it, in turn enjoying box office success despite releasing during the stacked Christmas period.