Get Out The Tissues: People Break Down The All-Time Saddest Movie Scenes
Reddit user CallyB0225 asked: 'What is the saddest movie scene ever?'
As Nicole Kidman wisely tells patrons of AMC movie theatres that we go to the movies to "laugh, to cry, to cry, to care."
"Because we need that. All of us."
And the movies that really make an impression on us are the ones that do all of the above as she described.
When characters are well-developed and the actors portraying them really connect with the audiences, they stay with us forever.
There's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing our favorite heroes–whether supernatural or based on actual, real people–suffer loss or meet their own untimely demise.
Curious to hear from moviegoers, Redditor CallyB0225 asked:
"What is the saddest movie scene ever?"
Don't underestimate the power of animated films.
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
"The Fox and the Hound when the old woman has to leave Todd in the game preserve to save him and her tears as she drives away without him."
– snortybeagle
"Also the scene where Todd gets out and she’s running through the woods with a lantern calling for him. Reminds me of losing my cat."
– aaron_hoff
Baby Mine, Don't You Cry
"When Dumbo's mom rocked him from behind her cage 😭"
– LimpCauliflower8579
"Baby mine, don't you cry Baby mine, dry your eyes Rest your head close to my heart Never to part, baby of mine."
"F'k. I had to take a little baby possum to get euthanized because its mama had been hit by a car and killed along with its siblings. It was awful - you could see some of the babies had survived the impact and tried to crawl off, only to be hit themselves. This little one was the only one left when I got there, but it was too injured to make it. It sounds so dumb but I sang a bit of this song to it while I held it on my lap on the way to the vet. I know it's anthropomorphizing them too much, but possums seem like such good mamas."
– lizardingloudly
Dinosaurs Grieve Too
"The first movie in the Land Before Time. Broke my heart. Still does."
– HeelerDot18
"Littlefoot mistaking his shadow for his mother."
“Mother? Mother!”
– justputonsomemusic
"That scene KILLS me because I know that exact feeling. My mother died when I was 12, and for a long time after she died, I would see someone who looked like her and have this cruel, crazy stab of hope that my mom wasn’t really gone."
– captcha_trampstamp
A Cub Grows Up
"Simba begging Mufasa to wake up. That tiny little 'help.'"
– mossadspydolphin
"get up....we gotta go home...."
– imthe1nonlyD
Remember The Dead
"The scene in Coco where Miguel is trying to get mama Coco to remember her father. My daughters and I all cried at the theater. Mama Coco reminded us so much of my grandmother. At that point we had lost 3 of my grandparents. 1 each year. My grandmother was all we had left. She died a few years after the movie came out. My daughter hasn't watched it since because she knows she will cry even harder."
– thiswilltakeamiracle
When a character has an epiphany, we're right there with them.
Unsatisfied Hero
"The 'I could have saved more' scene where Schindler has an emotional breakdown after the workers gave him a ring engraved with the quotation: 'Whoever saves one life saves the world entire' and was then comforted by the workers in the movie Schindler's List."
– SuvenPan
The Gift Meant For Someone Else
"Emma Thompson in her bedroom after she receives the Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas."
– khendron
"Just phenomenal acting. I can’t remember who said it, but there’s a quote that watching someone trying not to cry is somehow sadder than watching someone cry and it’s so true."
– prunellazzz
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
The Last Bedtime Story
"When the mom tucks her kids in and the old couple go to bed together in Titanic knowing they’re going to die."
– enlenar
"The mother and children are Irish, and in that scene she’s telling them an old Irish story about going to a land of eternal youth and beauty. The only way she could attempt to comfort them knowing what is to come."
"As a mother I couldn’t imagine making that decision. To spend our last moments in utter chaos fighting for our lives, or going back to the quiet of the cabin and dying as a family there. Gut wrenching."
– SylviaKasen
The Most Loyal Dog Ever
"Hachiko waiting for his friend to come back every day at the train station."
– 33-9
"Omg, I think that would be number 1 on my list, I don’t think I’ve ever cried harder than at the end of Hachi."
– OP
A Soldier Dies
"When Giovanni Ribisi’s character dies in Saving Private Ryan, after telling the story about pretending to be asleep when his mom checked in on him."
– howdysteve
"His whole story about his mom and his final line "...I don't know why I did that..." really hits me hard, and I always shoot my mom a sloppy, cheesy text immediately after the scene."
– duskywindows
Meeting His Maker
"In the Green Mile when John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) gets executed. "Don't put me in the dark." Gets me every time..."
– Vivid-Voyage
"That was the first movie to make me sob, not get teary eyed, but painful sobbing."
"Also RIP Michael Clarke Duncan."
– shewy92
While we go through tissues blowing our noses and wiping away our tears (hopefully not in that order), "somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this."
Yes, Nicole Kidman. We love to ugly cry in movie theaters.
But we'll never look as stunning as you while doing so.
Infamous Movie Plot Holes Explained
Reddit user Animeking1108 asked: 'What infamous movie plot hole has an explanation that you're tired of explaining?'
A movie is only as good as its ending.
Unless audiences are left with a major cliffhanger under the premise there's a planned sequel, all plot points should be resolved to a degree.
However, even the best films that are thoroughly satisfying and enjoyable can lead to a disappointing finale that leaves audiences hanging with no promise of a follow-up. It can be frustrating.
And then there are the thin plot holes that are so arcane, it's nerve-wracking trying to make sense out of them.
Yet, there's somehow logic in them that escapes the minds of audiences with short attention spans.
Curious to hear examples of these, Redditor Animeking1108 asked:
"What infamous movie plot hole has an explanation that you're tired of explaining?"
And...action!
Scenes from these thrilling films left some audiences stumped.
Beast Follows Feast
"In Jurassic World, Claire didn’t 'outrun' the T-Rex (in heels) … because it wasn’t CHASING her. The dinosaur was conditioned to equate the flare with feeding time so it was patiently following her to an anticipated meal. The situation is similar to how zookeepers can have (limited) interactions with lions and bears."
– PARed717
Choosing Correctly
"How does Sarah Connor know which button to press to crush the Terminator in Terminator(1984)?"
"Because she accidentally presses it a few minutes earlier and it set the crusher off, it what lead the Terminator to find them."
– SuvenPan
"Oh, like in The Incredibles where Elastigirl has the remote and Bob tells her to push that button again."
– DBSeamZ
The Glitch In The Machine
"The matrix reloaded the scene where Neo is talking to the architect, the screens behind them are not other ones, it is the predictions the machines are making on Neo’s responses, most of the scenes are incorrect in those predictions, except for when Neo must choose between Trinity and all of humanity, the machines nailed that response on all screens."
– Omegaprimus
These classic examples left some viewers completely flummoxed.
Getting Intimate
"There was a whole topic on the front page a while back about The Truman Show asking about what happens when Truman wants to sleep with his onscreen wife, is that upsetting to her because she’s just an actress, how do they avoid showing it on TV. People offering all kinds of explanations like 'he was raised not to know what sex is.' I thought I was going crazy because not only does the movie directly address this (two guys watching the show complain that the camera always cuts away when Truman and his wife go to bed) but it’s an actual plot point in the movie that she’s trying to have a baby with him so that they can start Truman Show Phase 2, and his obsession with a woman they kicked off the show years ago is ruining the director’s plans."
– plankingatavigil
Remembering Memory Loss
"In Memento, people always wonder how a guy with short-term memory loss remembers he has memory loss. But he’s conditioned himself to say it, just like Sammy was subjected to conditioning in the flashbacks."
– wakeruncollapse
Eavesdropping
"One of Charles Foster Kane’s servants was outside his bedroom when Kane said 'Rosebud.' The door was wide open. The dialogue later confirms that a butler heard Kane’s dying words and reported it to the paper."
– TheNavidsonLP
Establishing Reality Up Front
"FRIENDS. 'How did they pay for that apartment on their salary in New York?'”
"The very first episode, Monica mentions that her grandma owned the apartment, and she would never be able to afford it otherwise!!"
– PleasantFix5
"And it was rent controlled, plus i think it was an illegal sub lease and they had to hide that from the super."
– turkturkeIton
Playing On A Steretype
"I am so late to the party but… Legally Blonde"
'OMG, a dumb blonde sorority girl studied for the LSAT for a summer and aces it? Bullshi*!
"No. No, the point is that Elle Woods was never a 'dumb blonde.' She was always brilliant. Literally the first scene is her interrogating the salesperson and catching them in a lie because she was observant and smart."
"Rather, Elle was pigeonholed by the circumstances of her looks and her privileged upbringing to pursue a vapid life. While inspired by the wrong reasons, it results in her breaking the mold she was confined in so that she is able to reach her full potential."
– Spectrum2081
Is it too much to ask the audience to suspend their disbelief?
It depends on the movie.
Witnessing The Supernatural
"People sometimes wonder how Indiana Jones initially remains sceptical of the mystical events happening in the second film, when he just witnessed a magical ark mass killing a bunch of Nazis in the first film."
"But that's because the second film is a prequel."
– chillyhellion
Accepting The Mythical As Real
"Also the majority of artifacts and myths Indiana Jones interacts with are completely mundane. They have fascinating cultural significance and implications on history, but they're ultimately just mundane. The encounters with the supernatural are clearly rare exceptions he gets caught up in, not his primary field of expertise."
"Like, even if literally Atlantis was discovered right here and now today, that doesn't mean the lost continent of Mu, or the city of El Dorado, or the lost colony of Norumbega, or anything else is real. It means Atlantis is, apparently, real."
– wererat2000
Heightened Awareness
"On watching The Sixth Sense it may seem completely improbable that Bruce Willis' character didn't realize that he was dead. Yet it's explained right there in the movie: ghosts see only what they want to see."
– prosa123
What makes the moviegoing experience enjoyable is the assessment afterward with other cinephiles.
It's fun to discuss the contrasting takeaways each person may have had from watching the same movie.
Occasionally, there are plot holes that seem easily identifiable, but wind up having a perfectly logical explanation behind them, which warrants a second viewing.
But one movie that my friends and I had a difficult time figuring out was Back to the Future.
Even though Marty successfully corrected the course of time with his parents falling love, wouldn't they have recognized their son when he eventually became a teenager?
They each interacted with the catalyst–their future son–who brought them together in the first place after all.
But that's just an example of the suspension of disbelief.
Sometimes, you just gotta go with it.
People tend to gravitate toward various celebrities based on the work they do without really knowing who they are in real life.
For example, actors who play nefarious characters may have a legion of fans who love the rebellious persona but can be let down after discovering their personality is actually quite loveable.
We often tend to forget celebrities are people too, and their real-life persona may be contradictory to the type of characters they play in movies.
Curious to hear from those who were in for a pleasant surprise after meeting a star, Redditor BEEPY_BO1 asked:
"Who is the kindest/rudest celebrities you've met IRL?"
These positive chance meetings stayed with Redditors forever.
Not Forgotten
"My sibling has a terminal illness in the 80s and Make A Wish sent our family to the set of Knight Rider to meet David Hasselhoff. Was cool, but that's not what matters."
"Fast forward 30 years and I'm at Heathrow picking up a family member when I see the Hoff standing there on his phone. I approach him and wait for him to end his call. He looks at me and says hello. I tell him that we met. He looks at me and say, 'Was their name ...?' He remembered their name after 30 years."
"That will always stay with me."
– AnsweringLiterally
The Sweet Canadian
"I used to serve Rachel McAdams at a restaurant fairly regularly. She was always super sweet. Very lowkey and soft spoken in person. She and her husband would come in late and keep to themselves."
– overintoxikatied
"I was at a pub in Toronto years ago and we were watching the Blue Jays home opener on the TV. The bar had a long booth seat with a series of tables strung along so you sat pretty close to the next patron."
"Had no idea that Rachel McAdams was sitting next to me the whole time. My friend and I watched the game and chatted with them throughout as they were right next to us. Just regular pub chatter and comments about the game."
"The Jays ended up coming back to win, and Rachel and I high-fived at the conclusion. She and her friend left, and my friend smacked me after they got up and said "that was Rachel f'kin' McAdams!" So yes, she seemingly has the ability to just be low-key and fit right in despite being a beautiful Hollywood actress!"
– skipfairweather
Satisfying His Sweet Tooth
"Ian McKellen came to the spa I worked at and was absolutely lovely. We didn’t sell ice cream but there was a farm shop across the road and I mentioned it and he asked me if I’d take him there."
"My friend who worked in the farm shop had his mouth open the whole time seeing me buying ice cream with Gandalf."
– ClydeinLimbo
They are professionals but are also good with people. A winning combo.
Pure Magic
"Penn and Teller hang out in the lobby after their show in Vegas to chat and sign autographs. Very friendly and yes Teller can talk."
– vandalia
"Teller was really sweet to my brother who is handicapped and in a wheelchair. That meant a lot to me."
– VeryBestMentalHealth
The Perfectionists
"I have worked with Steve Martin and Martin Short, they’re both super nice, respectful, and incredibly dedicated to their craft. They’ll spend hours finessing a couple lines in a show they do every night just to get it right for that evening’s performance."
– snakefest
The Conversationalists
"I was an extra on The Last of Us and met Pedro Pascal. He was super nice. We technically weren’t allowed to talk to the 'talent' and they’d usually ignore us but he and Gabriel Luna talked to us anyway."
– _PlaZma
Talent Recognizes Talent
'Giancarlo Esposito was incredibly warm and also told me I should try and get into voice acting. I have never and will never attempt to do so but it was such a nice compliment for no reason.'
– dronecypher
These Redditors have bragging rights for the best celeb encounter anecdotes.
Congrats Are In Order
"I proposed to my wife at a restaurant in Kauai. Afterwards, Michael Keaton leaned over from his table with his family and enthusiastically congratulated us. Very kind and friendly."
– Warren_Puffitt
Deadpanned By Deadpool
"Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively live relatively close to my hometown and show up to this Christmas event every now and again that our town puts on. Walked out of the ice cream parlor downtown and sitting on the bench right outside is Ryan Reynolds eating an ice cream cone. I looked up at him as I was walking out and made eye contact, and I looked away, then I looked back to make sure it was him, and he looks me dead in the face and goes 'I know right, isn’t it crazy?' And then he gets up and walks away. 10/10"
– Euuphoriaa
Inspired And Encouraged
"I met Weird Al at a con once. While he was signing the photo I bought, I told him about how he inspired me to write my own parody songs. He seemed genuinely interested and asked if I had a YouTube channel, but I told him I just write them, not record them. Super nice dude (at least for the brief time we spoke)."
– Avandra
A Birthday To Remember
"Jeff Goldblum, after a matinee of 'The Pillowman.' Autographs, photos, asking people where they were from, what else they had seen/were going to see. One girl mentioned they were in the city for her birthday as she was taking a photo of him with her friends, he stopped and said “How can you not be in your own birthday picture,” took her camera and grabbed someone from the crowd to take a picture of the group. Would not leave until he was sure everyone got what they wanted (despite his assistant or handler trying to move him along for dinner before the evening performance)"
– alter_ego19456
I met Keri Russell at one of my favorite restaurants. She was dining alone and reading a book.
I'm not usually not one for invading a celebrity's personal space, but because I was a HUGE Felicity fan, I had to say hi.
I told her she was even more gorgeous in person and that I wanted to tell her I admired her work. She blushed and simply said, "Oh, stawwwp!" and laughed.
She then asked about me, what I thought of the food at this particular establishment, etc. She had such a great, laid-back vibe. Not wanting to take up any more of her time, I excused myself.
When she eventually got up to leave, she came over to where I was sitting with my significant other at the time, and she told us with a wink, "You boys, have a good night."
I almost died.
I have seen many a scary movie.
A horror movie done right can haunt you forever.
Have you seen "The Exorcist?"
Good Lord.
I don't know if I'm ready for the new sequel.
I love to be a little frightened by a movie.
But haunted for life is a different story.
Plus, I can't sleep with the lights on...
Redditor Specialist-Crazy1466 wanted to hear which movies we still see in our nightmares, so they asked:
"What is the scariest movie you ever watched?"
Some scary movies give me heart palpitations.
So I try to be picky about the stories I watch.
The Balance
the descent horror GIF by Coolidge Corner TheatreGiphy"The Descent. Horrible monsters mixed with darkness and claustrophobia makes a scary movie."
itsminimal
"I was looking for this movie. Imo this film is the perfect balance between bloody, physical horror and actual psychological terror."
AkiraN19
Too Much
"White Noise. Wasn't scary when I watched it in the theater but became VERY scary when my car stereo only picked up static the whole ride home."
stfupcakes
"Oh damn, that was so good. I worked at a video store in ~1996 or so, and a coworker put it on. I was mesmerized. I later took it home and watched it in the dark, as you should, and damn. That's a masterpiece."
Far_Blueberry_2375
"Took my high school girlfriend to it, and she was in tears she was so scared. Almost 20 years later, and she still freaks out if I bring it up."
Prp076
Chilling
"The Day After... I watched it when I was a kid and it absolutely terrified me. When it originally aired, ABC had to set up a phone hotline with counselors standing by. It's one of the scariest depictions of nuclear war in film in my opinion. Chilling."
scarletmanuka
"I've been thinking about these movies, and how unrealistic they are. We all just survived a pandemic. What happened? Things were bad, tent hospital, turned away, truck morgues. And people just... learned to bake bread. Made music."
"Gave up offices and started doing things for their neighbors. Nuclear war would be obviously, a horrific shitshow and not to be entertained, but I really believe, we'd come together and make a good world after. It wouldn't be the complete collapse of our humanity, and the rest can be rebuilt."
Cheap_Doctor_1994
The Splatter
"The Grudge. I don't know why, but this f**king thing is so scary. I had to pause it. Never had this before. Even the worst splatter is nothing for me, but this... No."
Yggdrafenrir20
"It was when the lady got sucked into the bed when she was hiding under the covers. Like they took away my only defense in the dark as a kid."
Colossus245
"I had the same reaction. Something about it just made my skin crawl in a way that other similar movies like The Ring didn't. For several years afterward whenever I had a nightmare, the grudge lady was somehow involved. Yugh."
JonEleven
Turn it Off
Happy Got You GIF by BounceGiphy"There are definitely better movies, but Sinister has always scared the crap out of me. It took me 2 tries to watch it. It’s the only movie I’ve ever turned off from being so scared."
Cobonmycorn
Never saw Sinister.
And now I know to skip it.
My nightmares are bad enough.
"The Thing. My first viewing was at night, and I was maybe 5 or 6. It scared me so bad I only watched subsequent viewings during the day until I matured a little more."
Same-Reaction7944
Never Again
“'The Ring' when I was 9 or 10, that was scary."
DelusionalGorilla
"I saw it in my 30s, on pain meds for kidney stones, while my wife and kids were away. The thing that freaked me out the most was that in the middle-end of the film someone called me from an unknown number and hung up."
EnIdiot
"It's the only movie I absolutely refuse to watch ever again. I saw it ONCE as a kid and I'm 30 now. I still have occasional nightmares about it. Sometimes I'll be eating and this movie will pop into my head for NO REASON and I lose my appetite completely. I'm haunted by it."
guiltyonallcharges
Too Much too Handle
"Event Horizon... or maybe Pandorum."
Nulltan
"Worth noting Event Horizon is one of the most famous cases in the lost media community. It had 30 minute cut for being too grim for the test audiences. 30. Minutes. While some scenes did make their way to the 2006 DVD, most of it is considered most likely lost for good barring some miraculous surprise discovery."
"You can read about what was cut at the Lost Media Wiki here: https://lostmediawiki.com/Event_Horizon_(partially_lost_unreleased_130-minute_cut_of_sci-fi_horror_film;_1997)"
Lights On
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I kept waking up at 3 am on the money for weeks afterward. Didn’t help that I found and listened to the original tape-recorded material of her speaking fluidly in different languages while being exorcised."
Opening-Ad-3775
"This is it for me. I watched it in theaters when my boyfriend was out of town. I went home and slept with the lights on. I love scary movies and had never done that before or since. I’m going to have to look for those tapes!"
LostintheLand
Wobbled
kathy bates misery GIFGiphy"Misery. My knees were wobbling when I walked out of the theatre. No more Stephen King for me."
suzymwg
"I watched that while dealing with a stalker. Horrible choice."
sethro919
I love scary movies, but some of these sound like a step too far.
Misery still haunts me.
When you can't get enough of one particular film and hope to revisit the characters you've fallen in love with in a sequel, be careful what you wish for.
Many sequels seldom live up to their predecessors and fans of the original find themselves disappointed after flocking to theaters to see them.
Franchises are money-making machines, however, and some fans are forgiving of them if they are remotely entertaining.
Unfortunately, not all sequels succeed at this endeavor, and the worst of the bunch was revealed when Redditor poopy_wizard132 asked:
"What is the worst sequel you have ever seen?"
These mega blockbusters smashed at the box office the first time around.
Not so much the second, third, or fourth time around.
Highlander Sequel
"There can be only one..."
– Tiamatium
"The Highlander was a story about a collective of ancient warriors who live forever and are trying to kill each other so that only one can exist. One particularly large powerful warrior is wiping out the remaining immortals in modern times and now he's coming for an immortal who came from the Scottish Highlands and faced him previously in a feudal battle."
"Highlander 2 takes place in the future when the Higherland (Connor MacLoed) has built a dome to protect the world from UV rays after the ozone layer was destroyed... and now all the immortals are aliens... and people who died in the first one are also reborn."
"The movie was so bad that Highlander 3 considered Highlander 2 to not be canon and just became a direct sequel to Highlander 1. To avoid confusion future sequels no longer had a number."
– garlicroastedpotato
Independence Day 2
"What a god awful excuse for a movie. Ridiculous plot, terrible acting, even worse script and an alien moon-sized ship that 'lands' on earth! Really??"
– Tonyhillzone
"This movie lives in a strange space for me. I've never had it happen before where I see a movie, but remember literally NOTHING about it. All I remember is that I watched it, but I don't have any idea what happened, or how it ended. It's just a black hole in my movie watching history."
"At least other movies are so bad that I remember them, but Resurgence has literally left NO impression at all on me."
– Krinks1
Jaws...Again
"The only answer can be Jaws 4: The Revenge. A shark swam all the way from Amity Island to the Bahamas to get revenge on a widow and her family for her late husband killing a different shark some twelve years beforehand. I don’t think I need to elaborate any further."
– thegoodfella98
"Don't forget that the shark roared in that one too which is just absurd."
– BondraP
Superman
"Superman 4 The quest for peace."
"Edit:and with that cast! Still utterly unwatchable."
– Joebroni1414
"I watched this as a kid on tv all the time, I thought it was great. I've seen it since and it's obviously terrible but I still get a kick out of it for just how truly bad it is. Nuclear Man with his nuclear nails, hilarious."
– TheHeyHeyMan
"Alien vs. Predator: Requiem"
"God, what an awful movie that was."
– hodgkinthepirate
"Yup but they didn't hold back on killing everyone... That hospital scene with the predalien... Didn't see that coming."
– GNDM03
These successful films made on a modest budget should've gone out on a high and stopped after the first movie.
Return To The Shack
"Caddyshack 2. Phew, what a turd. Rodney Dangerfield read the script and threw it in the trash."
– StoolToad9
"This is what I came here looking for, just embarrassingly bad for everyone involved, and is absolutely the worst performance of Dan Aykroyd's career. Yes, I've seen Nothing But Trouble."
– TheHeyHeyMan
American Psycho Strikes Again
"American Psycho 2… absolute trash and not in a good way."
– Icy-Side5075
"ya this was a bad idea from the starts. american psycho one is so good because its source material. the sequel just kind of invents a girl serial killer story and completely forgets what the main message was."
– karmagod13000
George Of The Jungle
"George of the Jungle 2. Granted the first one wasn’t that great either, but I liked it. Brendan Fraser made that movie go from bad to okay. Recasting him made the sequel unwatchable."
– leebon427
"I saw this as a kid and didn't even notice the recast at first... Until they broke the fourth wall and George looked into the camera to have a conversation with the narrator talking about how they couldn't afford Brendan Fraser."
– Troncross
Popular franchises as a package deal tend to do well because of their fanbase, but that doesn't mean there's a not a big flop in the bunch.
Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
"I think Rise of Skywalker is probably the worst. It undid every hope I had for the series, and made no sense. I think the set pieces were good, because that's all JJ is good at, really. Tying them together into a story is just not something he cares about, and I really wanted someone who cared about the story of Star Wars to tie up the series."
– crazy-diam0nd
"It’s not a movie, it’s a board room argument."
– Earthshoe12
Dying Harder
"A Good Day To Die Hard. Couldn't even sit through the entire thing. It is quite the accomplishment that they managed to make an action film boring."
– Qster4
"This is the way. The other Die Hard sequels ranged from good to lacking, but they were all highly entertaining in their own way. A Good Day to Die Hard had zero redeeming qualities and somehow involved a spy mission and Chernobyl in a series of movies about a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time having to kick a**."
– AbeVigoda76
Return To The Matrix
"The Matrix 4."
"I am f'king SHOCKED anyone agreed to come back for that script."
"What the hell was Keanu and Carrie thinking?"
"What the f'k was anyone thinking? Who the f'k thought any of this would be a good idea?"
– TelephoneFanClub
"Studios are starving for established IP's, raking the coals for whatever hint of light. WB/Studio was pressuring a "reboot", 'We'll do it without you if u [Wachowski] won't do it'. So Lana just like 'F--- U' and made a tongue-in-cheek bad script, sloppy CGI movie with closed, finished story no sequel, and Keanu and crew are friends w Lana and prob realized this and signed on to take part in this 'rebellion', sotospeak."
"WB then released it, with a tail bt their leg. Covid didnt help."
– moogly2
Given the fact that many sequels bomb at the box office and draw the ire of dedicated fans, studios will keep churning them out and bank on the fact that the originals performed well.
And what keeps studios cranking out sequels is due to the demands of fans who will go see them anyway.
Who cares if Michael Myers is alive again?
People knowingly go back to theaters knowing they're not in for Oscar-worthy material. These films are bad, but oh so good for a laugh.