How Alien 3 and The Mighty Ducks 3 Failed for the Same Reason

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ct625w/how_alien_3_and_the_mighty_ducks_3_failed_for_the/

Both of these movies followed triumphant, uplifting second-films and shifted their subject-matter to focus on the harsh realities of life. While it's hard to draw comparisons between the first Alien and the first Mighty Ducks, the comparison comes into focus in their second movies. Both take on a noticeably more uplifting, Hollywood-blockbuster style than their predecessor. Aliens eschews the slow pace, atmosphere, and dread of the first Alien in favor of a guns-blazing action movie where Sigourney Weaver learns to trust robots, gets a boyfriend, and finds redemption in an adopted daughter. It's still a grim horror movie but it's noticeably more uplifting and entertaining than the first, making it many people's favorite. D2 similarly throws out nearly all of the family drama and grey aspects of Gordon Bombay in favor of a straightforward Disney sports movie, where the ducks bond with a more diverse roster of teammates and become WORLD CHAMPIONS. It's ludicrous and a notably lighter movie than the first but it's an excellent sequel that the whole family can enjoy. Both of these sequels take on a much more uplifting tone and end with all our heroes' quests wrapped up in a nice bow. I think this, more than anything is what doomed their third installments.

So where do you go from here now that everyone's in a good place? There's nowhere to go but down and unfortunately, that's exactly where both series went... Alien 3 immediately kills Ripley's adopted daughter and romantic interest, spends 2 hours kicking the crap out of her physically and emotionally, and ends with her committing suicide for the greater good. I've come to like Alien 3 over the years but it's a a dark, nihilistic movie about the inevitability of death, it's probably an AIDS metaphor, and it's something only a stoner film-student could ever love. D3, while obviously not as dark, takes on noticeably darker themes than its predecessors. Gordon Bombay is barely even in it, Hans dies, the new coach proudly proclaims, "The Ducks are Dead," and their end-goal of beating the varsity team feels especially trite. More broadly, most of this movie revolves around the pain of growing up: dealing with people you don't like, learning that cold people have legitimate reasons for being that way, sucking up your pride and doing things you don't like, etc. It's surprisingly mature for the series but also jarring because of how that clashes with the first two movies. I respect D3 for trying to evolve the series but it's just too heavy in its subject matter to offer the uplifting Disney experience that we all expect from a Mighty Ducks movie. (edited)

To circle back around, I think you could make a case that either or both of these movies are inferior simply because of a general drop in quality and execution. Alien 3 was infamously rushed out the door, with endless rewrites and reshoots. It lacks the thrills of the first two, it's a slow languishing movie in general, the Alien itself looks horrible, and Charles Dance aka Tywin Lannister is the only likable character (and he's promptly murdered). D3, on the other hand, is much closer in raw entertainment value to its predecessors but it still spends most of its run-time moping around in an angsty haze. On the other hand, one could make a case that neither of these threequels even needed to exist, with the second films ending so resolutely. Perhaps both series would have been better off with entirely new casts or story directions.

While these and other criticisms are totally valid, I think the true problem with both of these movies is with the underlying direction they took their franchises. Both Aliens and D2 took their heroes to new heights, overcoming absurd obstacles to reach their goals and making audiences want to stand up and cheer, while Alien 3 and D3 yanked audiences back down to earth to preach at them about how tough life can be. Even if D3 and particularly Alien 3 had been better movies, both of them still would have gone down as disappointments, simply due to their grim premises clashing with their direct predecessors. I think there's a place in film for disappointing audiences on purpose but a 3rd movie in series, let alone one about Disney-hockey or space-cockroaches probably isn't the right place...