While the opening of a film is meant to set the tone and give audiences a reason not to hit skip, pouring everything into the first ten minutes of a movie when you have ninety more to fill probably isn’t a good idea. And in all honesty, some of the best movies actually never come close to matching their own opening scenes, and that results in the audience only remembering the first act and nothing that follows. Yes, too much of a good thing too early can ruin a film. Here are ten of the most notorious offenders.
1. 28 Weeks Later
Everyone who talks about 28 Weeks Later remembers the film’s opening sequence. Those twelve minutes are easily the most thrilling part of the entire film, maybe even the entire franchise. It begins with a zombie attack on a farmhouse hideout and ends with a father abandoning his wife to save himself. It’s thrilling stuff. But when you compare it to the rest of the film, it’s definitely the standout. Interestingly, Danny Boyle only handled limited second-unit work on the sequence, with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo directing the bulk of it.
2. Ghost Ship
Ghost Ship is probably the best example of a film that has a brilliant opening sequence that isn’t quite matched to the rest of the movie. That opening cable-snap sequence that shows dozens of passengers sliced in half by a mooring cable is genuinely one of the best set pieces in horror. But the moment the film moves on beyond that opening, the entire film collapses and becomes forgettable really quick.
3. Up
Pixar’s Up is considered a classic for many reasons, but, if we’re brutally honest, that opening sequence that shows Carl and Ellie’s introduction and journey to married life hits harder than anything else in the film. It’s almost completely wordless but sums up married life in a beautiful montage nobody can forget. What follows is a good animated film but it never reaches the heights of the opening — and perhaps on purpose. It sort of mirrors Carl’s own inability to move past his grief.
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4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is one of the worst films in Fox’s X-Men franchise… but it also has one of the best opening sequences in the franchise too. The film speeds through Wolverine and Sabretooth’s journey through wars, friendship and eventually enemies. That sequence alone is worth watching over and over again. The rest? Not so much.
5. Final Destination 2
You can’t talk about Final Destination without talking about the infamous logging-truck highway pileup scene. To this day, the franchise hasn’t managed to recapture the brilliance of that opening. It’s the one sequence from the franchise that still haunts horror fans to this day. Personally, after seeing the film, I change lanes whenever I see a logging truck.
6. Spectre
It’s easy to see why the Day of the Dead opening tracking shot through Mexico City is considered one of the best pre-title sequences in Bond history. All those skeleton costumes and skeleton statues were visually interesting. But what many don’t know is that the opening sequence also actually influenced real life: Mexico City’s real-world Day of the Dead parade grew significantly more elaborate after the film’s release. Nothing else in the film matches that brilliant opening.
7. Star Trek (2009)
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is often singled out for its prologue: George Kirk’s sacrifice to save the crew of the USS Kelvin, including his newborn son. Bruce Greenwood’s later delivery of Christopher Pike’s “twelve minutes” line is usually credited as what elevates the sequence, even though the rest of the film has plenty of defenders too.
8. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
There aren’t many who would call Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets their favorite film. The Luc Besson film is generally considered a mess by most viewers. However, the film’s opening, a cool montage set to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” is often called a near-perfect short film on its own. But it was downhill after that. Everything else that follows is pretty bad.
9. Watchmen
In 2026, the debate over whether Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is a good film continues. However, what’s not up for debate is the film’s title sequence. Everyone seems to agree that it stands out as the best moment in the entire film. Built around Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin'” and Dr. Manhattan’s Philip Glass–scored origin story, it draws heavy praise as filmmaking that the rest of the movie never matches.
10. Baby Driver
Baby Driver has a lot of cool action sequences. But, if we’re honest, none of them compare to the film’s opening bank-heist getaway, a single unbroken sequence timed beat-for-beat to “Bellbottoms.” It’s the best stretch of the film by far, and the rest is far from bad — it just never gets that good again. Edgar Wright has said the sequence was inspired by a song he used to listen to at 21, and it shows in just how tightly the choreography, editing, and soundtrack are locked together.
Honorable mentions
There are dozens of other examples. We could have mentioned Lord of War‘s bullet-manufacturing opening (which shows us how a bullet travels from a factory to being used to kill someone). Or we could have mentioned Swordfish‘s freeze-frame building explosion. There are plenty more films that have committed this cardinal sin. The lesson: a great opening is a promise, and the rest of the film still has to keep it.
