Are sequels better than the original? Not usually, according to this chart from BoxOfficeQuant. It stacks up the Rotten Tomatoes ratings of the first films with that of their sequels, and the results are pretty damn conclusive. Most of the time, the sequel is worse, often way worse, and only on a few occasions is the next film as good as or better than the original.
Sure, Rotten Tomatoes ratings aren’t gospel, but they are a pretty decent representation of film quality when all critics’ opinions are averaged, and there’s little to disagree with here. Obvious films that jump to mind as quality sequels you’ll see on the far right are THE GODFATHER PART II, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and THE DARK KNIGHT, while SON OF THE MASK, DUMB AND DUMBERER and SPEED II: CRUISE CONTROL bring up the rear.
It’s kind of hard to read the chart at first, and it took me a minute to get it, but just use the axes which will show you the relationship between the score of the original and the sequel.
Click on the picture above to blow it up huge, and see for yourself.