Top 20 FAILED Movie Franchises

With “Lord of the Rings” writers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens penning the script for this adaptation; and many of that trilogy’s cast and crew returning, things seemed promising at first for “Mortal Engines.” The film looked to emulate the success of other young adult series following young female protagonists through a post apocalyptic world. However, this was no “Hunger Games.” The film’s massive scope may have been too much for first-time director and longtime Jackson collaborator Christian Rivers. While the film’s ruined landscape and predator cities looked incredible thanks to Weta Digital’s special effects, it also came with an insane budget. Its abysmal opening and even worse hold led it to losing an estimated $175 million dollars, dooming any sequel plans.

Of all the commercial products solely designed to manipulate the male gender, “Battle: Los Angeles” is one of the most blatant. The film is overstuffed with everything macho, including the American military, lethal aliens, explosions, video game action sequences, and Michelle Rodriguez as a tough soldier. Maybe this would be cool if there was something of substance backing it all up, but “Battle: Los Angeles” has about as much nutritional value as a certain Michael Bay franchise. Unlike “Transformers,” though, this film lost the battle and the war with audiences.

Sony’s desire to emulate the success of the MCU led them to create a number of superhero films with whatever rights they held, including the ill-fated “Madame Web.” Cassandra Webb, an elderly clairvoyant with a visual disability and paralysis in her legs, was pulled from the Spider-Man fringes to the center stage. She was reimagined as a young EMT, which already snips a lot of the character’s intrigue. Dakota Johnson was joined by Sydney Sweeney trying her best, and a constantly redubbed Tahar Rahim, along with Adam Scott as a shoehorned in Uncle Ben. The plot pulled from parts of Spider-Man’s lore that are forgotten, despised, or both. And while it did promise multiple Spider-Women, they wouldn’t receive their powers or costumes in this film. Or any other for that matter.

An “A-Team” movie had been in development since the mid '90s. By the time the film finally came out in 2010, it was too little too late. While not a colossal flop, modern moviegoers were borderline uninterested in seeing a screen adaptation of an '80s series starring Oskar Schindler, Phil from “The Hangover,” that one guy from “District 9,” and Not Mr. T. It's fitting that the A-Team never has a Plan B since director Joe Carnahan announced that a sequel won't be happening.

Following the success of the “Matrix” trilogy, people were excited to see what the Wachowskis would do next. The answer was “Speed Racer,” a film that had been in developmental hell since the early ‘90s, though the filmmakers did make it truly their own. “Speed Racer” emulated the anime on which it was based with its bright colors and over-the-top characters. Its plot about grit and determination triumphing over corporate machinations and evil capitalists was surprisingly earnest. And people hated it. Overwhelmingly negative critical reviews and an abysmal box office return killed a planned sequel. Over the years however, the film has earned a much deserved reappraisal, frequently hailed as an underrated masterpiece.

One of several teen romance films that desperately wanted to be the next “Twilight,” “I Am Number Four” tells another story of an attractive outsider who falls for an ordinary girl in a quiet town. The only difference is that the protagonist is a sexy, brooding alien with no personality instead of a sexy, brooding vampire with no personality. Granted, “I Am Number Four” is a little less chick-oriented with the occasional action set piece to keep the guys amused. In the end, however, the film didn't attract either gender.

Just as he did with “The Mummy,” Stephen Sommers brought many of Universal’s classic monsters to life in this re-imagining of Dracula’s greatest foe. With characters like Frankenstien’s monster, Mr. Hyde, the Wolfman, and of course Dracula himself, sequels, potential spin offs, and even a TV show were expected. Universal was so confident that the studio paid to keep the sets and began developing a follow-up before “Van Helsing” even opened. However, many monster movie fans were unhappy with the transformation of the older stoic Abraham Van Helsing into the action hero Gabriel Van Helsing with his gadgets and quippy dialogue. Despite Hugh Jackman’s best efforts and some moderate success at the box office, the awful reception drove a stake through the planned sequel’s heart.

A franchise based on a video game can be a risky proposition. While in recent years some have found success, many more would-be franchises sputtered and died before ever getting a sequel script. Such was the case with Disney’s “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” with studio heads referring to it as their “next Pirates of the Caribbean.” On the surface, the similarities – a swashbuckling historical adventure based on popular IP – seemed clear. However the parallels were surface-level at best and it failed to duplicate the success of “Pirates”. Critics weren’t fond of the film and rightly criticized it for its whitewashing while video game fans thought it deviated too much from the game on which it was based.

To be fair, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” was a fun adaptation. It captured the darkly whimsical spirit of Lemony Snicket's books and Jim Carrey was born to play Count Olaf. With thirteen novels in the series, though, there was simply too much material to squeeze into one or even several films. As a result, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” felt a bit rushed, while failing to attract an enduring audience. Luckily, the TV series developed by Netflix had better luck in that regard.

Still desperate to recreate the success of the “Pirates” franchise, Disney reunited the star, director, producer, and writers of the original trilogy for “The Lone Ranger.” Like those films it also carried a massive price tag, with an estimated budget of $225-250 million dollars even after budgetary concerns were raised by Disney, which caused production delays. Hopes that the budget would be recouped at the box office were destroyed when it opened against “Despicable Me 2,” which, despite being made for a third of “The Lone Ranger’s” budget, made triple that weekend. It fared no better critically and wasn’t helped by the controversy surrounding Johnny Depp playing a Comanche warrior.

From a technical standpoint, “The Golden Compass” had all the right tools to bring Philip Pullman's celebrated novel to life. The film even won an Oscar for its jaw-dropping special effects. But, as beautiful as the film looked, the story's complex themes regarding religion and freewill were lost in the midst of all the visual eye candy. Fans of the books were disappointed, those who never read the book were just confused, and director Chris Weitz has practically disowned the film, which he claimed was ruined due to the studio's involvement.

While not a totally horrendous bomb, “Power Rangers” severely underperformed at the box office with the film barely turning a profit. Similarly, while its reviews weren't overly negative, they weren't particularly good either, splitting critics down the middle. So why is a mild disappointment middling film even here? It’s because of the overwhelming confidence that Lionsgate would get not just another movie but at least five more! It was revealed that the film was meant to be the first in an arc that could span six to eight movies, with much being held back for the potential sequels. For instance, fan favorite green ranger Tommy Oliver, who was teased in a post credits scene that would ultimately go nowhere.

Adaptations of “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings were huge financial successes in the early 2000s. Therefore, another adaptation of a popular fantasy book series seemed like a no-brainer and “Eragon” got the green light. Plans were in place to shoot the second and third installments back-to-back after what director Stefen Fangmeier assumed would be a highly successful first project. The planned trilogy would never come to fruition, however, as fans of the book were united with critics in their disdain for the film. Despite it crashing and burning, fans remained passionate with the release of further books, petitioning for a rebooted TV series. Those prayers have seemingly been answered with a show reportedly in the works for Disney+.

Disney's lucky that they've produced some of the biggest franchises of all time because the company has also gambled away countless millions on some of the biggest bombs - like “John Carter.” This space adventure tried nothing new, borrowing elements from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Avatar,” “Thor,” and every other popular blockbuster in recent memory. It's kind of ironic that a film based on a revolutionary sci-fi novel and directed by the brilliant Andrew Stanton would amount to such a mundane and uninspired waste of time, not to mention money.

Legendary Pictures truly swung for the fences when deciding to adapt one of the biggest video game franchises of all time in “Warcraft.” They did this by hiring acclaimed and at-the-time upcoming director Duncan Jones, giving the film a massive budget to fully realize the fantasy world of Azeroth. All involved expected the adaptation to birth a long running fantasy series. While the end result undoubtedly looked spectacular, it was a hollow spectacle. The script left much to be desired and was torn apart by critics. Its massive budget and marketing campaign meant that, despite a healthy take at the box office, it failed to be profitable.

“Dragon Ball” has existed for decades through multiple iterations and mediums, and was incredibly popular in Japan, the US, and the world over. So, to studio execs in the late aughts, it was ripe for an incredible and long-spanning live-action franchise. Hollywood wisely decided to adapt the beloved manga and anime with an eye on making multiple entries for years to come. However, they not-so-wisely decided to deviate heavily from the source material, turning the cherished series into a generic action flick. Perhaps worst of all was the casting of Justin Chatwin as Goku. A few years after its catastrophic release, series creator Akira Toriyama described the movie as “bland” and something he could not call “Dragon Ball”.

In an age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and “The Dark Knight” trilogy, “Green Lantern” came off like a multi-million dollar afterschool special. Although the cast was blameless for the most part, the effects were CGI overkill, the villains were literally cartoon characters, and the plot never took off. Fortunately, it at least looks like DC is trying to get their act together with Nathan Fillion newly cast as the new Green Lantern, an actor who seems perfect for the role after so many years of voicing the character. We can only hope the writing will be stronger this time around.

Marvel’s first family have always had a rocky relationship (no pun intended) with film adaptations. After some moderate success in the 2000s, Fox decided to give the franchise a gritty reboot when they brought in director Josh Trank. Problems arose from the start with bickering over the script during pre-production and a number of complaints aimed at Trank’s behavior during filming. Allegedly, he and star Miles Teller almost even got into a fistfight on set. Problems were compounded by massive reshoots, leading to a film where actors’ facial hair and obvious wigs varied between scenes. Upon release, the film was widely panned and considered one of the worst superhero films ever made with its announced sequel’s release date quietly removed from Fox’s schedule.

Seeing how “Avatar: The Last Airbender” was pretty much perfect to begin with, M. Night Shyamalan had no reason to make a live-action cliff notes film adaptation. Given how phenomenal the animated series remains, though, shouldn't some of that greatness have worked its way into “The Last Airbender”? Nope! Instead, Shyamalan messed with core elements, while stripping the story of any humor, heart, or magic and said, “Isn't my version so much better, you guys?” Fans around the world responded with a resounding, “no,” bringing this new Avatar Cycle to an end before it even started.

Plans for an entire slate of interconnected monster films, including “Bride of Frankenstein” and “The Invisible Man,” with the first to be released “The Mummy,” were announced as an attempt for Universal to get into the cinematic universe trend. On paper, it made sense with their monster movies of the 1930s to the ‘50s serving as the original cinematic universe. The official “Dark Universe” Twitter account even posted a (heavily photoshopped) picture with the announced leads of the films. Upon release, “The Mummy” contained a number of Easter Eggs and teases for future films and had Russell Crowe as a Nick Fury-esce Mr. Hyde. After the film’s disastrous opening, any future projects were delayed and then outright canceled, killing the cinematic universe before it ever lived.

Which never-to-be film franchise do you think was the biggest mistake? Let us know in the comments below!