ANALYSIS: The most successful horror movie sequels, prequels and remakes! 

VegasInsider’s supercomputer has analyzed 350+ horror movies from more than 70 horror franchises to determine what are the most and least successful horror sequels, prequels, remakes and spin-offs of all time. 

Part of the analysis were famous franchises such as Alien, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Jaws, Scream, Saw, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser & many more.  

After the movies were collected by the online casino team, they were assigned points by the supercomputer on the basis of their worldwide box office reported gross, user reviews score, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic score as well as the estimated return on investment. 

To see the horror movies that have ended up with the most points, have a look below. You can also see the most and least successful movies of the different categories in their respective detailed sections below. 

OVERALL POINTS

According to the results of a points-based system, which was assigning 1 point to the movies that performed better than the first movie in their respective horror franchises, the supercomputer determined that the most successful horror sequels / prequels / remakes / reboots / spin-offs ever are: 

Evil Dead II (1987) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016).

When it comes to Evil Dead II (1987), it performed better than The Evil Dead (1981) in 4 areas: total worldwide gross, Metacritic score, Rotten Tomatoes score, and IMDb ratings score, thus gaining 4 points in total.

The same amount of points was gained by 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), which performed better than the first movie in the Cloverfield franchise, Cloverfield (2008), in 4 areas: Metacritic score, Rotten Tomatoes score, IMDb ratings score, and Estimated ROI. 

All of the 350+ movies and their metrics can be found in a searchable interactive table below.

WORLDWIDE GROSS

Even though the budget and gross of the 1990 TV Mini Series “It” is not known, it can be safe to say that the 2017 remake of “It” surpassed the success of the first adaptation, grossing over 704 million dollars and becoming the highest-grossing horror movie of all time. It is also the highest grossing horror remake ever.

When only the total worldwide gross is considered, the remaining highest-grossing franchise continuations that make up the top 4 are: It Chapter 2 (2019, gross: 473 million dollars, IT franchise), Prometheus (2012, gross: 403 million dollars, Alien franchise) and The Nun (2018, gross: 366 million dollars, Conjuring universe). 

However, when looking strictly at the difference in total worldwide gross of a franchise’s first movie and its continuations where box office numbers are known (since it was not known for 1990’s It), the most successful franchise continuation is the 2012 prequel to the legendary Alien - Prometheus (2012). 

Alien (1979) was a box office success of its own, grossing 108.5 million dollars on a budget of 11 million dollars, however, Prometheus reportedly grossed over 403 million dollars, thus grossing 294.5 million more than the first movie in the Alien franchise. Its worldwide gross of over 400 million also makes it the most successful horror prequel ever made. 

CRITIC REVIEWS

The top 5 horror continuations with the highest Rotten Tomatoes score are: 

1. Creep 2 (2017) - 100% score, sequel of Creep (2014)
2. Slumber Party Massacre (2021) - 100% score, remake of the 1982 version
3. Aliens (1986) - 98% score, sequel of Alien (1979)
4. Prey (2022) - 94% score, prequel of Predator (1987)
5. The Fly (1986) - 93% score, remake of the 1958 version

On Metacritic, the top 5 horror continuations with the highest score are: 

1. Aliens (1986) - 84 score, sequel of Alien (1979)
2. The Fly (1986) - 81 score, remake of the 1958 version
3. 28 Weeks Later (2007) - 78 score, sequel of 28 Days Later (2002)
4. Pearl (2022) - 76 score, prequel of X (2022)
5. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) - 76 score, second movie in the Cloverfield franchise

The continuation of a franchise which saw the biggest increase in critical acclaim is the 2021 reimagining of Slumber Party Massacre. While the 2021 version has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100%, the 1982 original has a RT score of 45%, thus a 55% increase for the 2021 version. 

Notable increase is also the difference between the first Saw (2004), which has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 50%, while Saw X (2023) has a score of 80%, thus a 30% increase. 

On Metacritic, Prey (2022) saw the biggest increase in critical acclaim in comparison to the first movie in the Predator franchise - Prey has a Metacritic score of 71, while The Predator (1987) has a score of 47, thus a difference of 24 points. Another notable difference in Metacritic points is The Fly - the 1986 remake has a Metacritic score of 81, while its first adaptation from 1958 has a score of 62, thus an increase of 19 points. 

On the other hand, the sequel with the biggest fall from grace with the critics is 1987’s Jaws: The Revenge. In comparison to the first movie in the Jaws franchise, Jaws (1975), which has 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, Jaws: The Revenge (1987) has only 2%, thus a difference in quality of staggering 95%.

Other notable mentions of critically panned continuations are 1995’s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. In comparison to the first movie in the Halloween franchise, Halloween (1978), which has 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Curse of Michael Myers has only 8%, thus a difference of staggering 88%; on Metacritic, The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) has a score of 10, while Halloween (1978) has a score of 90, thus 80 points more. Additionally, the 2010 reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street has only 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the 1984 original has 95%, thus a difference of 81%. 

USER RATING 

When looking strictly at the highest-rated continuations of horror franchises, the movie with the highest IMDb user rating is Aliens (1986), which has a user rating of 8.4/10, only 0.1 point lower score than the 1979 Alien.

The rest of the top 5 of the highest rated horror continuations are: 

2. Dawn of the dead (1978) - 7.8 rating, George Romero’s Dead series

3. Evil Dead II (1987) - 7.7 rating, Evil Dead series

4. The Fly (1986) 7.6 rating - remake of The Fly

5. Army of Darkness (1992) 7.4 rating, Evil Dead Series

It turned out to be quite rare for a continuation of a horror franchise to have a higher IMDb user rating than its first movie, but some notable mentions are: Pearl (2022) and I Spit On Your Grave (2021). Pearl (2022) has a user rating of 7/10, while the first movie in the X film series X (2022) has a rating of 6.5/10. Meanwhile, the 2021 version of I Spit On Your Grave has a user rating of 6.2/10, while its 1978 has a score of 5.6/10. 

Once again, Jaws: The Revenge (1987) takes the crown for the biggest downward fall in IMDb user ratings, getting a rating of 3/10, while the 1975 version of Jaws has a user rating of 8.1/10 - a difference of 5.1. 

Other notable mentions of movies with a worse user rating than the first movie in the franchise are Howling: New Moon Rising (1995), Hellraiser: Revelations (2011), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), and The Return of the Texas Chain Massacre (1995). Howling: New Moon Rising (1995) has a user rating of 1.8/10, while The Howling (1981) has a rating of 6.5/10 - a difference of 4.7; Howling: The New Moon Rising (1995) is also the second overall worst rated sequel on IMDb, with only Sleepaway Camp: The Survivor (2012) ahead with a rating of 1.6/10. Hellraiser: Revelations (2011) has a rating of 2.7/10, and the 1987 Hellraiser has a user rating of 6.9/10 - a difference of 4.2. Meanwhile, Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) has a rating of 3.8/10, and The Exorcist (1973) has a user rating of 8.1 - a difference of 4.3. Lastly, The Return of the Texas Chain Massacre (1995) has a rating of 3.3/10, and its first installment has a rating of 7.4/10 - a difference of 4.1. 

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Lastly, the most successful franchise continuation when the estimated return on investment is considered is Paranormal Activity 2 (2010). On a budget of 3 million dollars it grossed 177.5 million dollars, thus a ROI of 5817%.

The remaining top 5 of the most successful ROI franchise continuations are: 

2. Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) ROI 4040%, Paranormal Activity universe

3. Annabelle (2014) ROI 3862%, The Conjuring universe

4. Saw II (2005) ROI 3593%, Saw universe

5. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) ROI 3138%, Insidious franchise

When looking solely at the difference between the estimated ROI of the first installment and its continuation, the most successful is the spin-off in The Conjuring universe, Annabelle (2014), which had a 2360% higher ROI than The Conjuring (2013). The Conjuring reportedly grossed over 320 million dollars on a budget of 20 million dollars, thus a ROI of 1502%, while Annabelle’s gross was 257.5 million on a budget of 6.5 million dollars, thus a ROI of 2862%.

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METHODOLOGY

• In total, 363 different horror movies across 72 horror franchises / universes were collected, focusing on the most notable horror franchises and horror movies with sequels, prequels, or remakes
• In the points analysis, 1 point was given to the sequel/prequel/remake/revival which had a higher performance than the first movie in the given franchises in the following categories: Rotten Tomatoes score, IMDb rating, Metacritic score, Reported worldwide gross and an estimated ROI 
• If a given metric was not available for a movie, that movie was omitted from the analysis, it could not gain points in that category and has “Unknown” tag - for example, if the box office gross is not known for the first movie in a franchise A, even if the sequel’s box office gross is known, it cannot get points in that category since it cannot be said that it has a higher gross than the first movie in the franchise or not
• The main focus remained on horror movies where its first version was released from the 2nd half of the 20th century onwards 
• Main Sources: IMDb.com, Rottentomatoes.com, Metacritic.com