Baffling sequels

I was scanning through the channel guide the other day and saw a listing for "Eddie and the Cruisers 2."
Why in the hell was this movie ever made? The original was a pretty forgettable flop, and there was no groundswell of support from the masses to continue Eddie's story. Even the production and distribution of both films seemed to be a mess.
There was one good song off the original's soundtrack (which, from reading the Wiki entry, might have been the reason for a sequel), but on the whole there is no earthly reason this film should exist, right?

So it got me wondering, what other sequels or franchises fall into this category? I'm dismissing most horror franchises, which make money until the magic runs out around part 4 or 5, or plain old bad sequels to good movies where it's understandable why the studio would try to cash in a second time yet failed.
I'm talking about the sequels where either the story was wrapped up neatly and there didn't seem to be room for a sequel (Fugitive/U.S. Marshals) or the franchises that never made money yet keep cranking out sequels (the NINE Children of the Corn movies, for example).

 

Maybe they made money, but Grownups and The Hangover were so deplorably bad that making sequels to those horrible shitstorms was akin to prostitution.

 

Weekend at Bernie's II. End of thread.

 

No, Caddyshack II, end of thread. My god, what an abortion.

 

Grown-Ups is a good one, but might be explainable. I think the original was basically Adam Sandler bankrolling a working vacation for his buddies, so maybe the sequel was the same logic of Sandler having more money and clout than he knows what to do with.

The Hangover sequels fall under the "made money" exception, though. The original made a shit ton of money, which gives them a pass to keep pressing their luck with parts 2 and 3 until the momentum dies out.

 

Major League: Back to the Minors is another one that comes to mind.
The original was awesome, probably did well at the box office, and left room for a sequel -- which was underwhelming in every aspect. And then they completely shift gears, make Triple-A baseball akin to Legion ball (including filming game scenes at a city park with chain link backstops) and put Scott Bakula and Corbin Bernsen through phases of their careers they probably refer to as "I dunno. I was drinking heavily at the time and having trouble paying alimony."

 

As if The Sandlot 2 wasn't bad enough, there is a The Sandlot 3.

 

Hunger Games squeezing four movies out of a book trilogy is a bit much.

 

Peter Jackson stretching the Hobbit into three movies was pretty bad.

 

Frank Ridgeway needs to weigh in on this. Eddie and the Cruisers was awesome even if the sequel wasn't.

 

Fletch Lives was a back-alley abortion.