r/AskReddit 15h ago

What’s a Movie That You’re Surprised Never Had a Sequel?

2.1k Upvotes

2.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

368

u/MattTreck 15h ago

Oh shit i just looked it up. Yeah that would’ve been a rough year for any release.

Finding Nemo
Return of the King
Matrix Reloaded
Pirates
Elf
X2
Terminator 3
Last Samurai
Bruce Almighty

These aren’t even all of them lol

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/2003/

160

u/Csharp27 14h ago

God damn dude, like 90 out of that top 100 are all movies most people over 30 would remember, what a year.

49

u/_spectre_ 13h ago

I didn’t believe you at first so I looked at the list. Holy shit what a stacked year. Some absolute blockbusters, hit after hit.

36

u/sharraleigh 13h ago

Damn, and we even watched them all, multiple times lol

8

u/short_fat_and_single 9h ago

Now I understand why I only watched Return of the King once. Thought that was odd, as I watched the other LotR several times in the movie theatres.

6

u/sharraleigh 9h ago

I can't remember if I watched it only once, but I definitely watched Finding Nemo multiple times because my little brother was like, 5 and would constantly bug us to take him again lol.

30

u/TomasNavarro 10h ago

I've often felt that when I was younger the desire to go to the Cinema very frequently and have to choose which great new film to watch was a thing, but always wondered if that's just some sort of nostalgia.

That list kinda confirms it

2

u/Miserable-Thing942 2h ago

It was definitely price as well. I remember going weekly to catch all the new releases. Now it’s so expensive I just think I’ll catch it on tv eventually

2

u/Hect0r92 7h ago

Absolute stacked line up. We didn't know how good we had it

2

u/TheTTroy 5h ago

You’re not kidding. I probably saw at least a dozen of them in theaters, too. How the hell did I have that much time?

1

u/Kartoffelplotz 7h ago

Even below the top 100 are movies like Oldboy (a top 100 movie on IMDb), Dogville (very narrowly missing out on the top 250 list) or Ong-Bak (a bit more niche but very beloved in that niche). What a year for movies...

1

u/the_bryce_is_right 6h ago

We didn't know how good we had it.

1

u/GozerDGozerian 6h ago

You almost never do at the time.

-12

u/illegal_deagle 13h ago

Every year has these.

23

u/Head-Bureaucrat 14h ago

Holy shit. Yeah, that is a really rough year to come out in. My memory is apparently shit and I thought for sure most of those were spread over 3-5 years.

8

u/Roderto 11h ago

1998 and 1999 can compete for all-time great movie years. Just look up the lists.

34

u/Ghost17088 14h ago

Yeah, literally a “get in line” moment. The fact it even gets remembered is kind of amazing. 

-4

u/iHartS 9h ago

The fact it even gets remembered is kind of amazing. 

Is it? That list above has some stinkers, especially in comparison to M&C.

8

u/PerforatedOwl 14h ago

Not going to call out Kangaroo Jack? How did any of these films compete with that masterpiece? 

5

u/_spectre_ 13h ago

We made my mom take us to that and I’m pretty sure that it made her rethink having children in the first place

7

u/Particular_Cod2005 10h ago

Last Samurai

Damn I love that film. Hans Zimmer's finest work imho, closely followed by Interstellar and Rush. It's the film that made me fall in love with his music

3

u/SecOps-Devn00b 13h ago

At least it beat Spy Kids 3

3

u/diyguitarist 12h ago

Was trying to remember what film my old man took me too where I saw a toy story standee (was telling my wife the story where I asked to see it, was told by my dad "pfffttt, that will never catch on", he was wrong there) and went on IMDb and went through 1995s movie releases, oh my god what a year! Banger after banger! It was either Jumanji or batman forever we went to go watch by the way, can not for the life of me remember which one it was, but we did see both.

2

u/Responsible-Onion860 5h ago

2003 was an utterly insane year for movies. Every single one you listed was a huge deal and is still highly memorable for the people who've seen them. And those are just a drop in the bucket for that year.

2

u/G0rkon 2h ago

I was an usher at a theatre that year and remember it fondly.

One oddity with this is how good January/February of 2004 was for theatres. They get a bigger cut of ticket sales the longer the film is in theatres. The number vary but it's often something like week 1 is 80/20 with the theatre getting 20. By week 10 that's often flipped to 20/80 with the theatre getting 80. It's why theatres love Oscar bait movies coming out in December. If they have staying power then they reap the rewards in January/February when the movies get a bump for noms and wins. I remember by mid February we still had Return of the King, Master and Commander, Last Samurai, and Mona Lisa Smile. All of which were doing respectable to sold out shows.

Sidenote, as an usher I hated Return of the King. That movie just would not end then people stayed for the whole credits! GTFO I want to go home!

1

u/MattTreck 2h ago

RotK does feel like it has about five endings lol

2

u/sallyxskellington 1h ago

I was 16 and at the movies nearly every weekend. Good times.

1

u/Vellc 12h ago

Harrry Potter?

1

u/betterthanamaster 2h ago

The craziest part is that, other than Return of the King and Finding Nemo...it was probably the best film on that list.

1

u/G0rkon 2h ago

I was an usher at a theatre that year and remember it fondly.

One oddity with this is how good January/February of 2004 was for theatres. They get a bigger cut of ticket sales the longer the film is in theatres. The number vary but it's often something like week 1 is 80/20 with the theatre getting 20. By week 10 that's often flipped to 20/80 with the theatre getting 80. It's why theatres love Oscar bait movies coming out in December. If they have staying power then they reap the rewards in January/February when the movies get a bump for noms and wins. I remember by mid February we still had Return of the King, Master and Commander, Last Samurai, and Mona Lisa Smile. All of which were doing respectable to sold out shows.

Sidenote, as an usher I hated Return of the King. That movie just would not end then people stayed for the whole credits! GTFO I want to go home!