Five Prequels That Should Have Died on the Drawing Board

The very word prequel comes with a bit of anxiety thanks to a track record of huge build-up and lackluster delivery. Despite the great prequels of the past 20 years, there have been quite a few lausy attempts that only served to put a stain on an entire franchise of movies.

In some cases, the anger still feels fresh. Just say the name Jar Jar Binks around a Star Wars fan to discover how fresh those wounds still feel more than a decade after the Phantom Menace hit the big screen.

Here you’ll find a few of the movies that made prequel a dirty word in film circles. These are the films that came with high expectations and delivered disappointment and even anger to millions.

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

This cringe worthy prequel is even more painful to watch knowing this bomb actually had potential. New Line first approached South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to write the screenplay. The duo even took a $1.5 million down payment. Well, the pair eventually backed out and the Dumb and Dumber prequel would eventually go down in history as one of the worst prequels ever made. Here’s why.

The makers of this film couldn’t manage to get Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels on board, which set expectations low. But it wasn’t the actors they did get – Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson – who made this movie bad. Both nailed the mimicry of Daniels and Carey. This film went wrong with its use of lowbrow, yet unfunny gags. There’s nothing wrong with lowbrow, but poking fun at people with special needs in a way that isn’t funny? That’s one way to alienate your audience.

Van Wilder: Freshman Year

Once again, filmmakers roll the dice with a prequel that lacks the original film’s star performances. In the first Van Wilder, Tara Reid and Ryan Reynolds set the bar for raunchy, college-themed comedies. This one stars Jonathan Bennett as Van Wilder.

It’s set in Van’s freshman year, before he became the guy who just wouldn’t graduate. In this version, the protagonist is determined to land in the sack with as many girls as possible, but of course, there’s a problem: They’ve all taken vows of chastity. This film tries to capture the crude comedic magic of the first movie, yet falls flat without the original stars. The writing feels like a second-rate rehashed version of the first Van Wilder, making it one of the worst prequels of all time.

Hannibal Rising

Perhaps it was the mystery surrounding Hannibal Lecter that made him one of the most frightfully beloved characters in the realm of horror films. Anthony Hopkins was perfect in the role, both in Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, playing the brilliant psychiatrist-turned-cannibal. And then there’s Hannibal Rising. This “masterpiece” just can’t miss a list of worst prequels ever made!

In this film you’ll watch the eerie mystery behind Hannibal get sucked away and replaced with a trite, horribly told back-story. You are also introduced to young Hannibal, a little rich boy growing up during WWII. As the movie progresses, Hannibal ends up living in an orphanage under Soviet occupation. He ends up hunting down and killing evil, cardboard thin characters who don’t amount to much more than the dudes you see getting riddled with bullets in Commando. In the end, viewers are left wishing they knew a little less about their favorite cannibal.

X-Men Orgins: Wolverine

For comic book fans, the disappointment of this film must have stung a little more. The comic Wolverine spin-off was in many ways much better than the X-Men comic series in terms of depth of story, action and art form. This was not the case with the Wolverine movie. It had plenty of buzz, the star power of Hugh Jackman and a more than solid line-up of X-Men movies to follow.

So where did this one go wrong? Well, expectations were through the roof for this film and, much like the Harry Potter series, you have bookworms and movie buffs to satisfy. That’s never a small feat. Unfortunately, this film just couldn’t meet expectations. There’s the cheesy romantic back-story that simply gets in the way. But what really got to fans was the handling of Deadpool, who was decidedly different, and more ugly than the comic book version. All in all, this film just couldn’t live up to the quality of the other X-Men movies.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

“Yeah, go right there behind those moisture vaporators. I’ll go get Jar Jar and come rape you in the anus.”

On a list of worst prequels ever, we couldn’t possibly miss the pharaoh, the uncontested deity of all failed prequels. As a protest, we didn’t even use the movie poster to illustrate it, instead we went for a “prequel to an assrape scene”. Most likely.

This movie might just be both the most anticipated and disappointing prequel to ever hit the big screen. In fact it might just be the most disappointing anticipated movie to ever hit any screen at all. George Lucas decided to sit in the director’s chair during a Star Wars movie filming for the first time since 1977’s A New Hope. The original trilogy would become movie history and make Darth Vader the most famous symbol of human tragedy since Hamlet. So yeah, telling the story of the great tragedy of Anakin Skywalker was going to set some high expectations.

Instead, we got Jar Jar Binks, an astoundingly annoying CGI character whose voice was unbelievably irritating. Somehow, this creature managed to work its way into almost every scene. Now, when Return of the Jedi came out, the Ewoks took a little bit of heat as being a little annoying, but they would still end up being considered lovable characters necessary to the story. No such luck with Jar Jar.

Ewan McGregor is hands-down a great Obi-Wan Kenobi, but unfortunately his performance couldn’t make up for all of this film’s shortcomings.

About the Author: Ben Norris is a freelance writer who has covered topics from music and entertainment news to saving money online. Ben’s work has been published on several large publications including online savings sites like Savoo.