Finding an audience is by far the hardest thing a film can achieve these days. There is a deluge of content on TV and cinema and breaking through the clutter, making it to the consumer and actually getting people to come to theatres is an almost impossible task.

Brand recognition is key, which is why studios spend insane amounts of money on marketing, usually 50 per cent of the overall budget when it comes to tentpole projects.

Getting that brand recognition is vital because if the movie makes a decent splash, then there’s a sequel in the works that will have a much lower marketing cost, which equals larger profits.

Breaking through though doesn’t necessarily mean that the sequel will be any good though. Usually, they are bigger and better but sometimes studios just fail with hilarious results. Here are three sequels that should have never seen the light of day.

Joker Folie à Deux

Joker Folie à Deux

Todd Phillips took the world by storm in 2019 when he dropped a Joker origins movie, managing somehow to ground an over-the-top cartoon villain to reality. It was gritty, dark, nihilistic and full of rage, released to an audience that fully embraced the character’s darker side. It was so successful the studio threw money at Phillips and actor Joaquin Phoenix to return. And return they did.

To say Joker Folie a Deux was a departure from the original tone of the movie would be a gross understatement. Where the first film was a psychological thriller rich in social commentary, the second was a courtroom drama/musical.

I’m not even joking.

It co-starred Lady Gaga and it could not have been more different from the original film. Even the titular character went from a rage-filled, anti-social badass to a broken, pathetic man who occasionally broke into song. The film bombed and got an avalanche of bad reviews, scrapping any thoughts for a third. Thank God.

Speed 2: Cruise Control

Speed was a 1994 fast-paced action thriller starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, before he ascended to godhood. The plot was simple: our heroes were on a bus that was rigged to explode if it dropped under 80 kph. Our protagonists race with time to defuse the bomb, save the people on the bus and catch a terrorist. It was fun, original and with so much charisma on screen was bound for success. The studio almost immediately ordered a sequel.

Wanting to copy everything that the first movie did, the director asked a simple question: What if we repeated the first film almost beat by beat, but this time, instead of a bus, it’s a cruise ship?

Bullock reprised her role – I’m guessing boatloads of money helped – but Keanu Reeves wisely opted to not come back. Speed 2: Cruise Control was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world that reeled in horror as if faced with an eldritch monster. It was clunky, unoriginal, devoid of charisma and felt like a money grab. Thankfully it sunk.

Superman 4: Quest for Peace

This is an ode to studio greed and a cautionary tale for letting too many people have control over the final cut. Following the massive success of Superman I and II, which established Christopher Reeve as a bona-fide superstar, the studio proceeded according to plan and released a third film.

Superman III had the titular DC superhero going up against standup comic Richard Pryor, who played a computer genius. Audiences did show up, making this a moderately successful film despite being atrocious and obviously shot on a smaller budget. That should have been the end of the series.

Thinking there was still gold in them hills, the studio commissioned a fourth instalment and I do hope the script was written on a marble slate because it could then be used as a tombstone. Christopher Reeve agreed to return but only if the movie tackled nuclear disarmament.

Just before the movie went into production the budget was halved, which resulted in a sharp drop in production value. The effects looked dated, the editing team was forced to reuse shots all the time – especially the flying ones – and the script had to be completely rewritten. The latter resulted in chopping a whopping 45 minutes of material from the final theatrical release, which of course resulted in a disjointed film with plot points that went nowhere. It was a major flop and killed the franchise for almost 20 years.