Top 10 Movies That Bombed So Hard They DESTROYED a Franchise
#10: “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” (2022)
Top 10 Times Fantastic Beasts Ignored Harry Potter Lore
The only secret worth uncovering here is how things went so wrong. Despite its loads of potential, this spinoff series never enchanted audiences the way the mainline “Harry Potter” films did. Then, plagued by waning quality and behind-the-scenes controversies, “The Secrets of Dumbledore” became the lowest-grossing Wizarding World film to date. Even worse, it took the crown from the previous “Fantastic Beasts” film. There’s no spell in all of Hogwarts to make that trend look good. After this disastrous theatrical run, Warner Bros. Discovery quietly announced that they weren’t in the process of developing any more Wizarding World films. In layman’s terms, that means this proposed five-part saga will end as a disappointing trilogy.
#9: “Vegas Vacation” (1997)
The Griswold family’s fourth trip marked a lot of firsts for the franchise. It was the first to drop the “National Lampoon” subtitle, the first made without any credit given to John Hughes, and the first to be outright rejected by both fans and critics. While “Vegas Vacation” is far from the series’ only disappointing sequel, it has the honor of being both the lowest-grossing and the worst-reviewed of the bunch. The clear lack of audience interest slammed the brakes on any more Griswold family vacations for almost twenty years. And, even then, Chevy Chase’s Clark has still yet to get back behind the wheel.
#8: “Dark Phoenix” (2019)
Top 20 Disney Movies That Are Surprisingly Dark
There are a lot of glaring, fundamental issues with this film. But, the biggest one is that it failed to make a profit at the box office. Reportedly, “Dark Phoenix” lost around $130 million, going down as one of the biggest flops in cinematic history. It’s even more embarrassing because the studio formerly known as 20th Century Fox had hoped “Dark Phoenix” would launch a whole new series of “X-Men” films. Unfortunately, all those plans crashed and burned right alongside the movie’s financial reports. Now that Disney’s acquired the rights to the “X-Men,” odds are this Phoenix will never rise from the ashes again. And that’s probably for the best.
#7: “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002)
Top 10 Star Trek Movies
For decades, the “Star Trek” films lived long and prospered. But, in 2002, the franchise found itself in an asteroid field of bad reviews. You can find any number of reasons for “Nemesis’” failure, from its poor release window to general “Star Trek” fatigue. But, either way, the fact of the matter is that The Next Generation went out with a whimper. Paramount Pictures nixed any more films with this cast and instead opted for a hard reboot in 2009. The only solace is that Patrick Stewart later returned to Picard as the star of his very own show. But, something tells us he won’t be steering the Enterprise to the big screen any time soon.
#6: “Fantastic Four” (2015)
Top 10 Fantastic Four Reboot Facts
It’s kind of impressive to kill a franchise before it even gets started. In fact, it could be argued this movie was DOA even earlier than that. Prior to release, “Fantastic Four” suffered a never-ending media storm of scandals, controversies, and rumors, each one pointing to an incredibly rough work environment. Things were so bad that, allegedly, star Miles Teller almost got into a fistfight with director Josh Trank. Given all that, it’s no surprise the film is a complete mess in every sense of the word. And it has the bad box office to prove it. The only mercy is that “Fantastic Four’s” already-dated sequel was quickly yanked off the schedule.
#5: “Son of the Mask” (2005)
20 Movies That Bombed So Hard They DESTROYED a Franchise
This ill-advised sequel is the textbook example of how not to continue a franchise. The success of the original “The Mask” wasn’t the green face covering, it was Jim Carrey’s unparalleled comedic timing. Without him, this soulless follow-up lost all of its charm and most of its audience, too. Not only did “Son of the Mask” fail to outgross its predecessor, it couldn’t even make back its own budget. Although, that’s to be expected from a film that’s widely considered one of the worst of the 2000s. Unless Jim Carrey decides to put on the Mask again, odds are this film series will tap out at two.
#4: “Terminator: Dark Fate” (2019)
Franchise Origins: Terminator
On paper, the cinematic return of Sarah Connor and T-800 should have been a slam dunk. While a string of poorly-received sequels had seriously hurt the brand’s reputation, “Dark Fate” promised to be a return to form for “Terminator.” And, surprisingly, it actually was (kind of). The reviews weren’t glowing by any means, but they were a marked improvement over the other modern entries. Unfortunately, “Terminator” fans had been burned one too many times. They failed to show up to theaters, and “Dark Fate” wrote off losses north of $120 million. In the end, all this reboot did was say, “Hasta la vista, baby,” to any chance of more “Terminator” films… until Hollywood runs out of ideas again.
#3: “The Divergent Series: Allegiant” (2016)
Top 10 Movies that Bombed so Hard They Had to Cancel the Sequel
For anyone keeping track, there are three “Divergent” films, each named after one of the three books. But, that’s not actually the full story. Despite the series’ diminishing returns domestically, the film’s producers decided to split the adaptation of the final novel into two parts. It resulted in a deeply unsatisfying third entry that no one was happy with, least of all the studio’s wallets. Afterward, the fourth film was reimagined as a TV special, and then later scrapped entirely. It’s a fate so embarrassing, it’s almost laughable. No one knows if a fully adapted “Allegiant” film would have done better, but at least the series would have gotten an ending.
#2: “The Mummy” (2017)
Top 10 Movies That Bombed Hard Due to Bad Acting
Tom Cruise is one of the few bankable stars left in Hollywood, and even he couldn’t sell these rags. His version of “The Mummy” was immediately buried beneath criticisms for its plot, tone, and acting. The poor audience feedback and disappointing box office returns ruined any chance of this monster coming out of his tomb for a sequel. And yet, that’s not even the end of “The Mummy’s” failures. It was heavily promoted as the starting point of a whole cinematic universe of classic monster flicks. So, when “The Mummy” bombed, it didn’t just ruin its own series’ prospects, it took down an entire potential franchise with it.
#1: “Batman & Robin” (1997)
Top 20 Animated Batman Movies
It’s no exaggeration to say that this take on the Dark Knight was designed specifically to build a film series. With more characters, more gadgets, and more merchandising potential, distributor Warner Bros. did everything they could to turn “Batman and Robin” into a smash hit. Well, everything except make a good movie. That proved to be a grave error, and to this day, “Batman and Robin” is infamously regarded as one of the very worst films ever made. The downright toxic critical reception immediately silenced any talks for a follow-up, let alone the in-development Robin spinoff. It took several years and a reboot for Batman’s legacy to recover, but forgetting the Bat-nipples is a different story.
