Big blockbuster franchises may seem like unkillable titans of themovieindustry, but many of these series are one bad film away from extinction. In many cases, household-name movie franchises became dangerously close to being killed off permanently by one particularly egregious entry at some point or another in their history. Even themost lucrative film serieshave their moments of weakness, which can often threaten to put a permanent end to their success.
Today, reboots of long-dormant franchises have become increasingly popular, withhigh-profile “requels"breathing new life into iconic names in cinema. These names usually only ever stopped making movies because of one particular bomb, failing critically, commercially, or both, for whatever reason. It takes a particularly bad film to halt development on a popular franchise, but some films are shockingly able to do so.
9Batman & Robin
Halted the dynamic duo in their tracks
Of themany Batman moviesto be released, none have the same level of infamy as Joel Schumacher’sBatman & Robin.The original Batman quadrilogy was already in dire straits after the release ofBatman Forever,which got negative marks for its over-the-top cartoonish performances, emphasis on toy sales, and bizarre fever dream aesthetic. Somehow,Batman & Robinmanaged to be even more audacious in every single one of these categories and then some.
The plot saw the dynamic duo go up against Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Bane, iconic comic book supervillains that are all given zero respect in this shallow adaptation. Batman himself needing to be replaced again paved the way for George Clooney’s performance as the Caped Crusader, still considered to be the worst incarnation of the character in movie history, even prompting a public apology from Clooney himself. It’s no wonder that it would be years before Nolan was able to get fans to take Batman seriously again withBatman Begins.
8Jurassic Park III
A pale imitation of one of Spielberg’s greatest hits
The originalJurassic Parkis still one of the most captivating four-quadrant blockbusters ever conceived, holding on to the title of highest-grossing movie of all time for obvious reasons. However, the first sequel,The Lost World: Jurassic Parkhad already begun to show the franchise’s waning longevity. By the timeJurassic Park IIIrolled around, the franchise had officially run out of source material to adapt, leaving to disastrous results when left to their own devices.
WhileThe Lost World: Jurassic Parkcentered on Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm once more,Jurassic Park 3brought back Sam Niell’s Alan Grant, stranding him along with some wealthy benefactors in over their heads in a new dinosaur-infested island, Isla Sorna. This awkward split focus on beloved characters was coupled with some goofy moments incongruous with the tone of the previous two films, such as a Barney the Dinosaur cameo and hallucinations of a man with a velociraptor head. As a result, a newJurassic Parkmovie wouldn’t be made for another 14 years.
7Terminator Salvation
Couldn’t salvage its vision of the future
While the third entry in theTerminatorfranchise certainly couldn’t hold a candle to one of the best action movies ever made, the series still had room to grow by the late 2000s. But the twisted and shattered timelines of theTerminatorseries first became convoluted thanks to the infamousTerminator Salvation.After Judgment Day occurs anyway, thanks toTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvationwas the first film of the franchise to take place largely in the future of the human-machine war.
With Arnold Schwarzenegger busy as the governor of California, his iconic face was sparse in this film, taking much of the appeal of the franchise with it. In his place, Christian Bale’s John Connor is a bit of a charismatic void, a performance not worth the infamousmeltdown Christian Bale had onTerminator Salvation’s set. All in all, the outing was weak enough to result in the entire franchise being sold to a new production company, who promptly began the first rebooted timeline withTerminator Genysis.
6Alien: Resurrection
An audacious attempt to take the xenomorphs to Earth
Another franchise made famous by the efforts of James Cameron, theAlienseries also began to suffer from the esteemed blockbuster magician’s absence.Alien³already left the franchise in a fragile state, butAlien: Resurrectionwas the true final nail in the coffin for the series for quite some time. Here, a clone of Ripley 200 years in the future tries to prevent a new batch of Xenomorphs from reaching the Earth in a spaceship before it’s too late.
Though Sigourney Weaver did her best as the strange offshoot of her iconic character, the shoehorned-in casting coupled with the nonsensical plot for some disastrous results. The titular biological nightmare creatures were also made less frightening than ever due to sheer exposure, not to mention an audacious attempt to inspire some sympathy for a bizarre half-human half-alien hybrid. This critical dud prevented theAlienfranchise for moving forward beyond theAlien vs Predatorcrossovers for a solid 15 years.
5Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Jumped the shark in the eyes of many fans
TheIndiana Jonesfranchisehad already languished for nearly 2 decades after the release ofIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which was originally meant to be the last entry of the series. However, the Hollywood machine reawakened the ancient slumbering cash cow in 2008 withIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Here, Indy, his old flame Marion, and his estranged son Mutt get tangled up in a new adventure searching for the mysterious Crystal Skull, another ancient artifact with untold powers.
This installment ofIndiana Joneswas thought to be too cartoonish and poorly-acted for many, from its bad Russian accents to the sight of Shia LaBeouf swinging on vines like Tarzan with a troop of monkeys. The biggest point of contention for many fans was the inclusion of an alien race, which was apparently too far-fetched to believe in a series that already featured magic powers and immortal knights. As a result, the franchise took another 15-year-long break before unearthingIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
4The Matrix Revolutions
A pitiful conclusion to a beloved trilogy
The Matrixis still widely considered to be one of the greatest action movies and high-concept science fiction stories ever by many fans today, a subversive, thought-provoking, and stylish take on the classic hero’s journey. The sequel may have been missing some of the meatier critical appeal, but at least worked as a low-brow action film. Sadly,The Matrix Revolutionswas an utter disaster for the I.P.
Neo’s story concludes with a series of vague biblical allegories that raise more questions than answers about the world created by the Wachowski sisters. From fans of the slick gunfights to the more philosophical crowd, no one was satisfied byThe Matrix Revolutions' disappointing conclusion that nearly killed the series. Judging by the response toThe Matrix Resurrections, the franchise may have been better off staying dead.
3Planet Of The Apes
One of Tim Burton’s biggest whiffs
Many audiences today might not be familiar with them beyond the recent prequel series and the original movie, but there were surprisingly manyPlanet of the Apesfilmsin between the two. The most high-profile of these awkward middle children of the franchise was Tim Burton’s bizarrePlanet of the Apesin 2001, a separate reboot essentially retelling the events of the first film with Mark Wahlberg as the human astronaut. However, Burton made some big changes to the lore of the story that didn’t sit well with returning fans.
For one, the social structure of the apes in the 2001 movie is completely different. The rug-pull ending is also far less impactful than the famous realization that it was Earth the whole time in the original film. Add in some eerie simian prosthetics and weirdly over-the-top performances, andPlanet of the Apesis the first major outlier in Tim Burton’s spotless track record up until its release. The series was eventually revived with flying colors by Matt Reeves withRise of the Planet of the Apesa full decade later.
2Halloween: Resurrection
A lasting hiccup for the uneven series
Another failed sequel to have “Resurrection” in the title,Halloween: Resurrectionis among the worst of theHalloweenfranchise, which is truly saying something. Right after the series hit a major high point with the soft rebootHalloween H20: 20 Years Later, Halloween: Resurrectioncame along to spoil the fun. Here, Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield once more to terrorize the latest batch of foolhardy young adults looking to make a quick buck out of his legacy.
In an audacious move,Halloween: Resurrectionsees Michael make short work of longtime series staple Laurie Strode only to move on to murdering a completely new group of victims. Including Laurie at all just to see her be unceremoniously killed by her murderous brother in the early stages of the film was a bitter disappointment, not to mention the sanctimonious ending that was personally disparaged by series founder John Carpenter himself. Rob Zombie tried to save the floundering series with another reboot, but Michael Myers would be doomed to mediocrity until 2018.
1Rocky V
A low point in the famous sports movie series
TheRockyserieswas marching along quite steadily with multiple hit films until the haunting release ofRocky V.This movie saw Sylvester Stallone’s Italian Stallion finally feeling the effects of his career, dealing with traumatizing head injuries that impair his ability to fight further. On top of that, a waning relationship with his teenage son, a desire to train the next contender, and financial woes all plague his star status.
Rocky Vgambled a little too hard on audiences being willing to forgive Rocky for anything he did, making him just a little too unlikable in the process. Not only is Rocky himself the true villain of the film, but some painful attempts to modernize the series and a lack of the actual exciting boxing that made it special all pull the film far below the bar of quality fans had come to expect. It’s a good thing themoviewasn’t Rocky’s last, with Stallone returning forRocky Balboaafter a whopping 16 years.
