Summary
Hollywood movie franchises have been known to give up on the series part-way through,due to box office bombs or other circumstances. Several independent superhero movies ended when the rights to the character were bought by Disney, after struggling to compete with the MCU. Other sequels languished in development hell for years before the people involved with the project finally admitted that the next movie was never happening.
These planned movies' cancellations may have come as a relief or a disappointmentto audiences. People will argue that certainunfinished movie franchises are still worth watching, especially when downright terrible reviews were not the reason the franchise was not completed. Some series were never finished because the actors or directors became busy with other projects. However, this is typically symptomatic of the most recent movie not being that great and the people involved losing interest in it as a result.
10 Movies That Should Have Ended The Franchise
Some of these franchises are still ongoing, and though many continue to make money at the box office, it’s clear where the stories should’ve stopped.
10The Amazing Spider-Man
Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man series ended after two movies when the rights were bought by Disney.
Spider-Man famously saw multiple reboots within a short period, leading up to the character being incorporated into the MCU.The trilogy starring Tobey Maguire had a strong run until its widely criticized third installment, after which Andrew Garfield starred in twoThe Amazing Spider-Manmovies,which achieved average reviews but objective box office success. Garfield and other actors' performances are the movies' biggest strengths, even if other writing decisions proved to be divisive. Leading up to the release ofThe Amazing Spider-Man 2, a sequel was all but confirmed.
Release date
2012
2014
The Amazing Spider-Man 3
Planned for c. 2016-2018; canceled
However,The Amazing Spider-Mancoincided with the growing dominance of the MCU.The Amazing Spider-Man 3was then canceledwhen Garfield was fired from the role after failing to appear at a significant press event, and Sony finally soldSpider-Manto Disney.Disney managed to add Spider-Man to the MCU in record time,with Tom Holland debuting as Peter Parker in 2016’sCaptain America: Civil War, only two years after Garfield was last seen in the role.
9Jack Reacher
The Jack Reacher movie sequel failed before the franchise was overtaken by a reboot.
On paper, aJack Reachermovie franchise starring Tom Cruise is a surefire win. It is exactly the kind of role Cruise is known for and there is a substantial amount of source material, with Lee Child’s series to comprise 29 books and a short story collection as of October 2024. However,the dramatic failure ofJack Reacher: Never Go Backspelled doom for this adaptation.Director Edward Zwick blamed himself forJack Reacher’sfailure, stating he did not understand what audiences wanted from the movie.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
2016
The longer gap between the first and secondJack Reachermovies suggests that they were playing each sequel by ear, andNever Go Back’sawful reception told them it was hopeless. Meanwhile,Amazon produced a much more popularReacherTV show,while Cruise returned to working onTop GunandMission: Impossible. Although it was never officially canceled, it would appear thatJack Reacher 3is dead.
8Journey To The Center Of The Earth
Dwayne Johnson’s new would-be franchise only featured him in one movie.
Johnson confirmed in 2018 that the movie(s) had been officially canceled, to a middling reaction when the franchise never had much of a dedicated fanbase.
Based on Jules Verne’s classic adventure novels, theJourney to the Center of the Earthfranchise kicked things off with a relatively successful movie of the same name, starring Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson. Later, Dwayne Johnson replaced Fraser as the series' headliner, playing Hutcherson’s character’s stepfather rather than his uncle. Whilestudio executives might have thoughtJourney 2: The Mysterious Islandcould be a solid setup for a series of movies starring Johnson,which seemed likely whenJourney 2was also a hit.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
2008
Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon
Journey 4
Canceled
Plans were made forJourney 3: From the Earth to the MoonandJourney 4to be filmed back to back. However,Journey 3was abandoneddue to problems with the script and Johnson’s busy schedule. Johnson confirmed in 2018 that the movie(s) had been officially canceled, to a middling reaction when the franchise never had much of a dedicated fanbase.
7National Treasure
National Treasure was reimagined as a TV show after a long development — then canceled.
National TreasureandNational Treasure: Book of Secretswere off-beat but solid action adventure mystery movies for the mid-2000s. With the second movie setting up thepage 47 cliffhangerthat would serve as the next sequel’s plot,National Treasure 3seemed like a given.However, the movie has now been stuck in development for almost two decades. Meanwhile, Disney+ produced the entertaining but short-lived sequel TV show that was canceled after one season.
2004
2007
Presumed to be canceled
National Treasure: Edge of History(TV show)
2022; canceled
In the wake ofNational Treasure: Edge of History, producerJerry Bruckheimer suggests thatNational Treasure 3could still happen. However, this seems unlikely when lead actor Nicolas Cage has, in no uncertain terms, said that the movie will never exist. Ultimately,if they wanted this movie sequel, they should have fought harder for it in the years followingBook of Secrets,before the actors and the industry moved on.
6Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The live-action TMNT trilogy ended after the second movie bombed at the box office.
SeveralTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesmovies were canceledover the years, perhaps illustrating how the franchise would be better served by animation when the premise is inherently cartoonish. Despite this, the poorly-reviewed, live-action adaptation of the comics that came out in 2014 was a box-office hit. However, its sequel,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, failed at the box office as well as with critics.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Therefore, the third movie in the reboot series was promptly abandoned. Later on, the animatedTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhembecame the best movie of this franchise, at least in the 21st century, earning a Golden Globe nomination for its efforts. However,despite the failure of the previous live-actionTMNTmovies, theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronincomic series is getting an R-rated, live-action adaptationthat will come out alongsideMutant Mayhem’ssequel.
7 Major Hollywood Franchises That Should Stick To Animation (Not Live-Action)
Hollywood still seems to maintain that live-action is inherently superior, but these big franchises exhibit better storytelling through animation.
5Percy Jackson & The Olympians
Both Percy Jackson movies were poorly received, leading to a reboot.
The movie adaptation of Rick Riordan’s firstPercy Jackson & the Olympiannovel is widely hated due to the changes made to the source material that made the story unrecognizable to fans. DespiteThe Lightning Thief’sfailures, producers forged ahead with a sequel, releasingSea of Monstersa reasonable three years later. However,Sea of Monstersalso buckled under the weight of the inherent story problems the first movie established,and any dreams of seeing the movie franchise to completion were dashed.
2010
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
2013
A decade later,Percy Jacksoncame back strong with a TV show rebootthat retained the most essential parts of the books. With an age-appropriate cast and Riordan on board as a consultant, the show has a bright future, withPercy Jackson and the Olympiansseason 2now in the works (at the time of writing). In the case ofPercy Jackson, abandoning the unpopular movie franchise was doubtlessly the right choice.
4Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four went through the same reboot cycle as Spider-Man.
Fantastic Fourrepresents a similar phenomenon in Hollywood asSpider-Man, being the two most famous Marvel properties. With such a famous group of superheroes at their disposal, studio executives and filmmakers desperately wanted to make something out of it. However, while Sam Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogy is something of a beloved classic and Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy is just shy of a complete masterpiece,the 2000sFantastic Foursaw mediocre at best reviews and fizzled out after two movies, despite there being plans for more.
2005
Fantastic Four
2015
The series' branding was complicated when Chris Evans became infinitely more famous for playing the MCU’s Captain America at the beginning of the 2010s.20th Century then produced aFantastic Fourreboot in 2015 with a new cast in what was ultimately a futile attemptto see some success with Marvel’s biggest property before admitting defeat and selling out to Disney. The MCU is now working on addingFantastic Fourto its lineup, with Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby in the lead roles.
3Hellboy
Guillermo del Toro & Neil Marshall’s demon superhero series has a rocky history.
From the macabre mind of Guillermo del Toro, in partnership with his co-director Neil Marshall, came a bizarre superhero movie about a demon summoned by the Nazis who is rescued by the Allies and grows up to become a hero.Hellboywas never a massive blockbuster, but the first two movies in the franchise were profitable and well-reviewed.However,Hellboy 3was canceled after a decade in development due to del Toro’s busy schedule and problems securing funding.
Hellboy
2019
Symptomatic of Hollywood’s oversaturation with reboots,Marshall directed a reboot that came out shortly after it was confirmed that del Toro’s sequel was not happening.While David Harbour seemed like the perfect person to take over from Ron Perlman, theHellboyreboot was a decided failure. In addition to the movie’s lackluster writing, the strange premise’s time and place may have simply faded into history.
2Divergent
A decrease in genre interest and a weak story led to Divergent’s early end.
Despite the largely derivative story,Divergentinitially seemed like it would be just as strong of a franchise.
Riding on the coattails ofThe Hunger Games, one of the most successful blockbuster franchises of the 2010s,Divergentbenefited from the popularity of the young adult dystopian genre at the time.Despite the largely derivative story,Divergentinitially seemed like it would be just as strong of a franchise. Lead actress Shailene Woodley had already starred in Best Picture nomineeThe Descendantsalongside George Clooney when the series began, while other A-listers took on supporting roles.
The Divergent Series: Ascendant
However,Divergent’sstory problems started to overshadow its marketability with the second movie, while there was a downturn in YA dystopias with the end ofThe Hunger Games.The thirdDivergentmovie received the worst reviews yet,leaving studio executives scrambling to complete the series. While there was talk of wrapping things up with a TV movie, most of the cast left the franchise, and the final movie was eventually scrapped.
8 Movies Franchises That Were Supposed To Replace The Hunger Games
Movie franchises including Divergent, The Maze Runner, and Mortal Engines had hopes of being the next Hunger Games but didn’t live up to the hype.
1The Chronicles of Narnia
The Silver Chair was in development for years before Netflix bought Narnia.
The movie adaptation of C. S. Lewis' classic fantasy novelThe Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobeproved to be as magical and spectacular as fans could have hoped for, becoming a critical and box office hit.This guaranteed a sequel, but the massive changes to the book made forPrince Caspiandid not entirely work out in its favor. While the movie still made a profit, the fact that it did not make as much of a profit as its predecessor was the defining point.
Movie
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair
The next movie,The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was already dealing with one of the more difficult Narnia books to adapt and bombed at the box office. Despite this,The Silver Chairwas in development for years before Netflix bought the rights to the series,with Joe Johnston slated to direct and Millie Bobby Brown being offered the lead role.The Chronicles of Narniahas a complicated history in Hollywood, making some wonder if the movie franchise should have been canceled just to make another one.
