TAGS Basic Instinct 2, bring it on, sequels, sex and the city 2, the color of money, the hangover part II
CATEGORIES Features

Listen, we're just as excited to see 'The Hangover Part II' as the next guy. With Zach Galifianakis bringing the weird and straight-laced Ed Helms on board to abuse, there's little doubt that it's going to be a crude riot to rival the first film. But the trailer gives us a wicked sense of déjà vu.

"I can't believe this is happening again," Stu (Helms) exclaims from a Thai rooftop while Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper survey the scene. Neither can we. They may have traded Las Vegas for Bangkok and the tiger for a monkey, but it seems like director Todd Philips is sticking with what works, right down to Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson.

In the first film, Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis lose their about-to-be-wed buddy (Justin Bartha) during a particularly drunken night and must retrace their steps in order to find him. Switch out the buddy for Helms' about-to-be-brother-in-law and you've got the plot of the sequel.

Which got us thinking about redundant sequels. They may change the locale or add a few new co-stars, but for better or worse it's just the same movie all over again. Check out five offenders after the jump.

'The Hangover Part II' trailer:



'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'


Director Chris Columbus and writer John Hughes knew a winning formula when they saw one. All you need is one mischievous kid (Macaulay Culkin), two idiotic thieves (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), zero parents (because moms and dads accidentally board planes without their children all the time), an emotionally resonant national holiday (Christmas), and voila -- you've got a hit. Hughes and Columbus didn't shake things up too much with their sequel to the box office monster 'Home Alone,' which pulled in $476 million worldwide. They simply moved the action from a Chicago suburb to New York City.
'Sex and the City 2'


Carrie and Mr. Big are having trouble in their relationship. You don't say. The fab four go on an incredibly lavish vacation to an exotic foreign land where their cultural insensitivity borders on offensive. How original. 'Sex and the City 2' was a classic studio money grab, a caricature of a once-great TV series that inexplicably chose to spotlight the very things the series was often criticized for. The flick even reached back into the TV series' plotline to rehash the Big vs. Aiden dynamic that drove the fourth season of the show. Ugh! Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Catrall's considerable talents were wasted, though writer-director Michael Patrick King finally got around to giving Kristin Davis's Charlotte the substantial scenes she should have gotten during the show's prime. Regardless, this thing was a bloated waste of celluloid that dragged our much-loved heroines through the mud.
'The Color of Money'
Martin Scorsese's 1986 sequel to 1961's 'The Hustler' was the film that finally landed Paul Newman a Best Actor Oscar after eight nominations. 'Money' is a totally OK movie, but it's really just an interesting flip on 'The Hustler''s story, with Newman now playing the seasoned pro instead of the up-and-comer.

'Basic Instinct 2'


In 'Basic Instinct,' Sharon Stone played Catherine Tramell, a lusty novelist suspected of murder who lures the man investigating her into her web of seduction. The exact same thing happens in 'Basic Instinct 2,' except the man isn't a cop, he's a psychiatrist (played by David Morrissey). The poster for the sequel even references the original's most famous scene: the leg crisscross heard (and watched, and rewatched, and rewatched ...) round the world. Sadly, the sequel lacked the dark, seductive energy of director Paul Verhoeven's 1992 smash, which scored Oscar nominations for its editing and score, and made Stone a superstar. 'Basic Instinct 2' was all bark and no bite, and despite a bunch of sex, it was about as sexy as a hefty, shirtless, Speedo-clad gentleman wearing socks with sandals and eating a tuna fish sandwich on a dirty beach.
'Bring It On Again'


Kirsten Dunst was unavailable for the sequel to her 2000 hit 'Bring It On,' so they hired a doppelganger (Anne Judson-Yager) and shot the same thing over. Interestingly, all of the 'Bring it On' sequels -- 2006's 'Bring It On: All or Nothing,' 2007's 'Bring It On: In It to Win It' and 2009's 'Bring It On: Fight to the Finish' -- reused the plot of the original and simply subbed in different actress for Dunst (Hayden Panettiere, Ashley Benson and Christina Milian, respectively).

Know of more sequels that are carbon copies of the originals? Tell us in the comments.