In Hollywood it’s very easy to get on a roll with a cash cow of a franchise only to realize one immutable fact. Eventually that cash cow will run dry and you’ll be left with nothing but the dregs. Some movies should never have gotten made, while some were decent attempts but managed to ruin the good name of their franchise. Hollywood is filled to bursting with movies that are either ridiculous, insane, or so off the wall bad that they’ve done little more than damage the faith of the viewers to the point that it takes a monumental effort bring them back.
Here are a few movies that might have put the nail in the coffin of their franchises.
5. Alien Resurrection
Aliens 3 was about as fringe as it got at this time in the franchise, but they had to try and either make up for it or somehow breathe new life into the film series. They did neither really. Instead they kind of tarnished the reputation of the film’s lead female hero by bringing her back not just through some mysterious miracle of cloning/gene splicing experiment, but by bringing her back as part alien. Oh yes, this Ripley is stronger, smarter, and her blood is highly acidic just like the things she fought against for so long.
4. Spiderman 3
Great idea to bring in Venom and Sandman. But the bad representation is what really killed this movie. Plus the new Green Goblin was nothing like his comic book counterpart, though his new look was kind of cool. Perhaps the only real success in this film was Sandman, and even that got blown out of proportion once or twice. The acting wasn’t too bad, but fans agreed that this was perhaps the lamest attempt at bringing Spiderman into the mainstream. Is it any wonder why Spiderman 4 was axed?
3. Batman and Robin
Superhero movies are not the best idea for sequels, though it’s understandable why filmmakers would try. Batman has undergone a great deal of change since the Michael Keaton days, but unfortunately George Clooney was just not dark enough for this role. He could play Bruce Wayne, playboy, just fine. But a Batman he is most certainly not. Plus, what’s up with the bat nipples? Was it really necessary or someone’s idea of a bad joke?
2. Scream 4
If ever a film needed to be derailed and stopped it would have been this one by the end of the third movie. We all got that Billy killed Sidney’s mother because she forced his mother to abandon him. Then we got the idea that Billy’s mother came back for revenge. Then we even accepted that Roman in the third movie was the angry product of a one night stand with his father and Sidney’s mother. Roman started the avalanche of blood that became Scream, it’s understood. A remake was not necessary, at least not this close on the heels of the other films.
1. The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor
This almost felt like one last hurrah by the cast and crew of The Mummy. Things didn’t go quite so well with the second movie so they figured they would add a third installment and see if they could revive it for just long enough to salvage the story. Yeah, no, didn’t happen. Instead it made Jet Li, Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, and several others look a bit overplayed in roles that should have been left alone at the end of the second film.
Not all of these films were so horrible that they wound up killing the franchise. A few have even started up again with new movies aimed at reviving the good name of the films that paved the way. Only time will tell if they’re successful.
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