How many times has this happened to you? You’ve paid for a ticket to see a sequel to one of your favorite movies. You settle into your seat in the theater. The lights go down and the movie begins. Within a few minutes, you realize something feels … off. Maybe the violence has been toned down significantly. Maybe there’s less profanity or adult content than you were expecting. Perhaps your beloved hero has been saddled with an annoying kid sidekick.
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, then let me extend my personal apologies: You have been hoodwinked by a PG-13 (or PG!) rated sequel to an R-rated movie.
I know how you feel. I can vividly remember the first time I saw the #9 movie on this list, and began to realize, in real time, what a huge difference an R rating can make, especially in a comedy about rowdy dudes getting into trouble. It was infuriating. I wanted to ask for my money back! Unfortunately, that’s now how movies work. (Few industries would go out of business faster if they instituted a money-back guarantee than Hollywood.)
Every so often, you will find a decent PG sequel to an R-rated movie. (I actually think Conan the Destroyer works fine even though it’s not rated R like Conan the Barbarian, for example.) They are very rare, though. Far more common are examples like the 12 films below, which took a popular R-rated franchise and drove it into the ground by neutering their content to ensure they could draw a wider audience of families and children.
The Worst PG-13 Rated Sequels to R Rated Movies
Is there anything worse than when an awesome R-rated movie follows it with a disappointing PG-13-rated sequel?
READ MORE: 20 Movies That Should Have Gotten Sequels But Didn‘t
10 Sequels That Are Better Than The Original
While it’s not easy for a sequel to surpass the original film in terms of quality, it does happen every once in a while. Here are 10 sequel films that are better than their predecessors.
Gallery Credit: Claire Epting