Some sequels totally work as standalone films. Take Mad Max: Fury Road, you don’t need to know a single thing about the original trilogy to enjoy that masterpiece. It’s technically a sequel, but it functions like its own beast.
Same with Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. It’s got cars, drifting, a new cast and setting, and no sign of the main duo until Diesel shows up at the very end like a Marvel post-credit scene. These are essentially “no homework sequels.”
But here’s the twist most movie fans don’t know about: a lot of sequels weren’t written as sequels at all. I’m talking about standalone scripts that got hijacked into franchise territory after the fact. Studios took finished or in-development scripts and said, “Hey, what if we just made this the next Kool-Aid movie?”
Suddenly, characters get renamed, backstories are retrofitted, and a completely unrelated plot gets dragged into an existing universe. Sometimes it works (barely), sometimes it’s obvious, and sometimes it’s a total facepalm.
So here are 10 movies that didn’t start out as sequels, but Hollywood turned them into one anyway.
1. The Ballerina (2025)
This spinoff from the John Wick universe might seem like part of the plan, but it wasn’t.
Originally written as a standalone revenge thriller with a ballerina-assassin at the center, the script was later absorbed into the Wick-verse to give the franchise some fresh (female-led) blood. Smart move? Probably. Organic? Not even close.
2. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
One of the best examples of a great movie that didn’t need the sequel label. 10 Cloverfield Lane started as a contained psychological thriller called The Cellar. But when J.J. Abrams got his hands on it, he folded it into the Cloverfield universe, which, at this point, is less of a franchise and more of a vibe.
This wasn’t even the only time they pulled this trick. The Cloverfield Paradox was another standalone script (God Particle) that got the same treatment : a title swap, some loose sci-fi connections, and it’s a sequel. Kinda.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Fun fact: This movie is based on a completely unrelated pirate novel by Tim Powers. Same title, totally different world. Disney bought the rights to the book before they even had a solid plan for a fourth Pirates movie.
When it came time to keep the franchise alive, they took the novel’s basic outline (fountain of youth, Blackbeard, mystical nonsense) and duct-taped Jack Sparrow into the middle of it.
Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and the emotional stakes are nowhere to be found. What’s left is Depp doing his usual drunk-swashbuckler routine, plus mermaids, zombies and a plot that plays like Mad Libs with cutlasses and eyeliner.
4. Evan Almighty (2007)
You probably remember this as the family-friendly Noah’s Ark movie. What you might not know is it wasn’t meant to be a sequel at all.
The script was its own thing, until someone realized they could dust off Steve Carell’s side character from Bruce Almighty and call it a spiritual successor. The result? Big budget, small laughs.
5. Saw II (2005)
After Saw blew up, Lionsgate was hungry for a follow-up. But instead of writing one from scratch, they bought a horror script called The Desperate and Frankensteined Jigsaw into it.
To their credit, it kind of worked — and launched a whole torture-porn empire — but let’s be clear: this wasn’t part of the original plan.
6. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)
This started as a completely original story set during the Cuban Revolution called Cuba Mine, written by Peter Sagal. It was more Romeo and Juliet than nobody puts Baby in a corner.
But when it languished in development hell, someone decided to give it a Dirty Dancing facelift. Enter the marketing department, exit any real connection to the original (besides a brief Swayze cameo).
7. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
This one’s got a weird origin story. The movie we now know as Ocean’s Twelve actually started life as a completely different film called Honor Among Thieves. It was written by George Nolfi and originally pitched as a standalone heist thriller to be directed by John Woo. Yeah, that John Woo. Doves and dual pistols, John Woo.
When Ocean’s Eleven became a hit, Warner Bros. wanted a sequel fast. Instead of starting from scratch, they pulled Nolfi’s script off the shelf and had him retrofit it for Danny Ocean and the crew. What we ended up with is a stylish, often indulgent movie that plays more like a European vacation with famous people than a heist film, probably because it wasn’t a heist film to begin with.
8. Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
Classic McClane, right? Not quite. The original script was called Simon Says, and it had zero ties to Die Hard. But when execs realized it had the right mix of action and attitude, they slapped John McClane into the lead and boom, Die Hard 3 was born.
It’s a great action flick, but it’s basically fan fiction with a budget and it’s fun as hell.
9. American Psycho 2 (2002)
Oh boy. This one’s infamous. Mila Kunis stars in what was once an unrelated horror-thriller called The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die.
Then someone at the studio had the galaxy-brain idea to insert a reference to Patrick Bateman, change the title, and call it American Psycho 2. The result? A movie that has to be seen to be believed.
10. Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
Ah yes, the sequel that broke its own universe. Highlander II started as a post-apocalyptic sci-fi about ozone layers and aliens.
Then someone decided to slap the Highlander name on it, and suddenly the immortals from the first movie were from another planet. Fans were furious. Still are.
Danger Bowie 
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