This week, a third ‘Hangover’ movie and a sixth ‘Fast & Furious’ grace cinema screens. Why? Seriously, why must every remotely popular movie be turned into a never-ending franchise of sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots, each new entry inferior to the last? Is there no originality left in Hollywood? (That’s a rhetorical question. Of course there isn’t.) In today’s Roundtable, we talk about movie franchises that have needlessly dragged on for too long and need to be put out of their (and our) misery.
Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)
They keep churning out ‘Underworld‘ sequels, and for some reason, I keep watching ’em. I guess I just have a weakness for Kate Beckinsale and those painted-on latex catsuits of hers. I definitely want to like a franchise that swirls around vampires and werewolves fighting tooth and nail (and machine gun and…) against one another. It’s just that these movies are so slow, dreary and self-serious. You have werewolves shooting sun-bullets at vampires – have some fun with it, for crying out loud!
Some franchises benefit immensely from the building of a rich, dense mythology, but the ‘Underworld’ mythology is instead a woefully uninvolving distraction. Drenching everything in the same cold, blue filter is visually exhausting, to the point where the ‘Underworld’ movies can literally be difficult to watch. The most recent installment in the series, ‘Underworld: Awakening’, addressed a bunch of my complaints but wound up mutating into what amounts to a ‘Resident Evil’ sequel. Taking its cues from an even more insufferable action/horror franchise isn’t really much of a step-up.
Shannon Nutt
When I glanced at this year’s upcoming movie releases and saw ‘Paranormal Activity 5’ was on the way, I knew it would be a perfect response to this week’s topic. Not only are the ‘Paranormal Activity‘ films just awful, but I honestly have no recollection of ‘Paranormal Activity 4’ being released. That’s when you know a movie series needs to die… when you can’t even remember how many movies have been released. I confess to only watching the first two of these, which are basically poor man’s versions of ‘The Blair Witch Project’, minus anything scary. The only reason they continue to be made is because they’re so cheap. The first movie only cost $15,000 (that’s right, THOUSAND) and the last couple have only cost somewhere around $5 million. ‘Paranormal Activity 4’ was the lowest grossing of the films so far, but it still pulled in $140 million worldwide, which means moviegoers may have to put up with these films for at least another half dozen or so entries. That’s true horror, my friends.
Mike Attebery
‘Resident Evil‘! For the love of God! ‘RESIDENT EVIL!!! I’m not a fan of this series. At all. And as far as I can tell, no one I know has ever really enjoyed any of the movies in the franchise. The most excitement I’ve seen has been from my gamer friend, Matt, who sort of half shrugged his shoulders 11 years ago when the first one came out, And yet, the films continue every one to two years, along with yet another Blu-ray boxset with every installment. Why?! Make it end!
Luke Hickman
I am completely burned out on sequels and remakes. I’m ready to return to original content. My new burnout is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As fun as these movies are, I’m ready to see ‘Iron Man’ fly away for good. The franchise will never get any better and I’d like to see Robert Downey, Jr. return to real acting gigs, not just playing modified versions of his own persona. With multiple theatrical releases each year and now a television series, Marvel needs to apply the brakes. Between these and the many other competing comic book movies, there are way too many. Marvel isn’t helping matters by cranking them out as quickly as they have. The result of a hasty ‘Iron Man 3’ shows that Disney/Marvel cares more about quantity than quality. I wish that they’d stop while they’re ahead. Sadly, with a billion-dollar threequel, that won’t be the case.
Brian Hoss
I’m going to lump two franchises together by their common thread, not because I hate them, but because they are not only done, but they are beyond done. By that, I mean ‘Rambo‘ and ‘Rocky‘. While neither of the latest installments of these franchises was as bad as the last ‘Die Hard’, they shouldn’t need to get that bad before quitting. Stallone wanted them made, and they were full of nostalgia and old characters. We’ve had the heyday and we’ve had the revival sequels. Now please, Stallone, let Rambo and Rocky rest.
Daniel Hirshleifer
‘The Expendables‘ seemed like a great idea, especially after Stallone’s astonishing one-two punch comeback of ‘Rocky Balboa’ and ‘Rambo’. But the end product was trite and boring. Yet it was a masterpiece compared to its sequel, which managed to be both incomprehensible and simultaneously embarrassing for everyone involved. Despite this parade of mediocrity, somehow a third film is in production. This needs to stop. Sabotage the film, sue the producers, do anything to prevent ‘The Expendables 3’ from getting made. And if it does come out, for the love of all that is good in action cinema, don’t see it.
Bryan Kluger
End all things ‘Twilight‘ immediately. Sure, the franchise supposedly ended with ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2’, but you know that won’t stop the studio execs from developing another film and/or TV series in the future. These movies are deplorable on every level imaginable. The only way one of these future projects would be decent is if Wesley Snipes reprised his role as Blade and killed off all the characters within the first three minutes.
Aaron Peck
I have to pick one of the franchises that spawned this Roundtable. ‘Fast & Furious‘ (I’m not even sure what the actual official title for the franchise is, because it’s been different every movie) seriously needs to drive off a cliff. I had fun with the fifth installment, mostly because Dwayne Johnson made the ridiculousness fun to watch. This sixth movie, however, is just sooo dumb. It’s a fairy tale land of fast cars, aging action heroes and phony talk-heavy scenes with unmemorable characters.
The entire sixth movie culminates in one of the stupidest climaxes ever constructed for film. This is the point where you wonder if director Justin Lin is really stupid or a diabolical genius. Either he has no idea how long a real airport runway is, or he understands that the type of people who love these movies won’t care that a car chase involving speeding sports cars and a cargo plane about to take off apparently takes place on the World’s Longest Runway. Ugh.
Josh Zyber
I kind of liked the first ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘ movie. It may have been far too long for its own good and seemed to have about six or seven endings before the credits finally came up, but it was a fun action romp that infused some life into a genre that had been dormant for decades. Of course, it turned out to be so popular that a sequel was a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately, the second movie, ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, was a tedious slog that drained all the fun out of the concept and reminded us (well, me at least) why pirate movies fell out of favor in the first place. You’d think that would have been the end of it, but no, the sequel made even more money than the first. So then ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ had to be a trilogy. And then that trilogy had to extend to a fourth film, which somehow raked in over a billion dollars even though no one who saw it seems to have liked it in the slightest. A fifth film is in development, and Johnny Depp has commented that he’s prepared to keep making them until he dies.
I like Johnny Depp, I really do, but it’s time for Captain Jack Sparrow to walk the plank.
—
We’ve barely hit the tip of the iceberg here in terms of movie franchises that have outlived their usefulness. Tell us in the Comments about the franchises you wish would just die already.
The blog will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. Have a great long weekend, everybody!
Drew
Amen, Luke! Iron Man needs to fly away for about a decade, before showing himself again!
With that said, I will note that I am actually excited for ‘Thor 2’ and ‘Cap 2’.
What can I say?
luke hickman
I’m curious about Cap and Thor too, but Guardians of Galaxy has flop written all over it, as does Antman. Despite loving Edgar Wright, I don’t see this going well.
BPD7
I can’t wait for Thor 2 and CA2. Both of the first ones I REALLY liked, MORE than Avengers.
dredd
I think Iron Man should only appear in avenger movies. He does not need his own movie, the character is getting stale.
I am excited for Man of Steel. It looks like a well done reboot of that super hero.
Drew
As far as I’m concerned, ‘Resident Evil’ movies can continue being made until the end of time. I know they’re not good, at all, but I love each and every one of them!
Drew
I hate to say it, but ‘G.I. Joe’ needs to cease continuation immediately. They’ve just given us no reason to believe that there will ever be a quality film.
‘I’m on vacation!’, er, I mean ‘A Good Day to Eat Feces’\’Die Hard’ needs to go away and never return! The fifth one was easily the worst film of the decade, thus far.
malakai
I agree with Iron Man… Robert Downey JR is way overrated. As far as Resident Evil is concerned, I love the RE universe, but I’m tired of seeing Mila taking all of the glory in the world as Alice. Bring back the old Jill Valentine (I know they’re the same actresses, but I liked her first look in Apocalypse) and bring back K-Mart and let’s see her evolve, grow in the series in her way to become an ultimate badass. I’d even like to see a showdown either between Claire and Alice or K-Mart in Alice, where Alice gets killed off. We already saw the fight between Jill and Alice. Alice pretty much got her ass handed to her.
BPD7
Robert Downey is NOT overrated, are you serious?
He is an accomplished actor.
malakai
He’s an emotionless actor, but that’s OK. If he still has fans, maybe they can keep him in business.
Dcon
Tropic thunder….enough said!
NJScorpio
I’m a fan of the Resident Evil movies. I find them very rewatchable, in a candy-colored-theme-park-ride-through-zombie-town sorta way.
BPD7
Yah I tend to agree but the one on the ship was BAD
Jessica L. Anaya
I like ’em all.
Jessica L. Anaya
Also it sure as hell beats the 5#it out of Twilight.
Chapz Kilud
Resident Evil had some very bad movies. But the last one managed to steer the franchise back in the right direction. I think it deserve one more sequel which would probably be the finale as I don’t see how they can drag it out any longer.
If Twilight wasn’t about vampires there wouldn’t be any sequel. Just look at The Host. That was one terrible movie by the same author.
William Henley
Oh, The Host wasn’t that bad.
After reading the books, I don’t think it is the stories themselves that are the problem. At least with the Twilight books, they are told from a first person perspective, and the majority of what makes the books so good is the inner monologue of the characters. They KIND of worked in the innner-monologue in The Host, but didn’t even bother with Twilight. As such, you have a really flat movie, without any connection to the characters. The exception is the third Twilight movie, which had a different director from the previous two (all three seemed to have had different directors, haven’t seen the 4th and 5th movies yet) and was way more action.
The issue doesn’t seem to be the story – the Twilight movies seems to be plauged with something fans have been complaining about for a hundred years – HORRIBLE screenplays and directing.
I won’t defend the Twilight movies (well, maybe the third one) at all, they are garbage, but the books are actually pretty decent (not great, but I did find that I couldn’t put them down, which will at least give them a rating of good – like a 6 or 7 out of 10 stars). I was, however, disappointed with the end of 4 – the ending just got built up more and more and then it just fizzles out, and doesn’t just end the book, but the series. It felt like she was seating things up for a 5th book, however her 5th and 6th books in the series were actually side-stories of the same events as told from other characters’ point of view.
If you have only seen the movies, and haven’t read the books (which is what it sounds like from your statement), then you really have no grounds to insult the author.
Actually, that is why I started reading the books at all, as someone said that to me. I decided that I would try the first book basically so that I could say to people that I had read it and it was garbage, and to my surprise, I ended up liking it.
That is like saying J.K. Rowling is an awful author if you had never read any of her books and only saw The Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.
Chaz Dumbaugh
I tried to read Twilight, it was just as bad as the movies, sorry bud, but being that you are a guy, very FEW other guys out there will ever come close to agreeing with you. I got probably 10 chapters or so into the first book and realized it had even MORE whining and complaining and horrible dialog than the movies did. They are plain and simple, TERRIBLE stories, and comparing Myers to Rowling is blasphemy in my eyes. Rowling beats Myers hands down in just about every aspect of writing. Myers is on the level of Paolini with the Eragon books, another copy cat amateur writer who really hasnt had any success outside of those books and even THOSE books werent a huge phenomenon like Harry Potter was.
Even David Slade, who directed 30 Days of Night and made the third Twilight, somewhat bearable to watch, couldnt save anything from being bad, other fans of the books I’ve talked to said they captured Bella pretty darn good and from what I read of the book, she was just as glum and annoying in the movie, its just that everything about those books screams BAD. I’ve seen all the Twilight films except the last and Breaking Dawn Part 1 was just as awful as the others, New Moon was easily the best but thats because the Director has an amazing visual eye and actually made things work for what he actually had to work with. Otherwise its a classic case of the material being crappy and not translating well on top of that into any kind of a decent movie.
William Henley
I liked Eragon. Granted, they are not the best books I have read, but highly enjoyable. You want a bad book series, look at the Shadow Wars books.
NJScorpio
Does anyone remember there was an animated movie ‘The Flintstones Meet The Jetsons’…or something like that.
When these series are just so over done, played out, and lacking creativitiy, they should just combine franchises.
‘Rambo’ meets ‘Rocky’, in a ‘Twin Dragons’-‘Parent Trap’ type movie.
‘Paranormal Activitiy’ meets ‘Fast & Furious’. Watch security camera footage of Dom’s garage as tools fall from the ceiling.
Ryan
Really gotta agree with Luke here. The Marvel movies are quickly becoming the movie equivalent of the RockBand/Guitar Hero (and before that, Tony Hawk) game series.
Sometimes less truly is more!
Jessica L. Anaya
I’ve got to say that is complete and utter bull the marvel movies are fine LEAVE THEM ALONE!
Pedram
I’m glad they made new Rocky/Rambo movies because the last instalments in the series for both of them were disappointments to me, and the new ones made up for it (especially Rocky).
I’m surprised none of the writers mentioned Die Hard directly, but I hope they do one last one to redeem the series enough to go out respectably, but not be so successful that another sequel is guaranteed.
If I had to mention one not listed, it would be the Scary Movie franchise, and by that I also include A Haunted House since it was pretty much the same thing in different clothing.
Josh Zyber
AuthorI didn’t pick Die Hard because, as shitty as the most recent movie was, I hope they can make another good one to make up for it and go out on a high note. I don’t think the franchise is unredeemable yet. Most of the ones mentioned above, however, just need to stop right now.
Pedram
Yeah I think it would be good if they make one last one where he actually dies, but it took 6 movies to do it so he really died hard.
Also when he’s dying, somehow refer to the conversation he had in part 4 with Justin Long’s character about why he does what he does, even though there’s no glory in it.
Drew
Totally agree! In regards to both ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, and ‘Antman’.
There’s no chance that either of them will be even remotely successful.
Marvel should have stopped when they were ahead.
Shayne Blakeley
Those are the two I’m most excited about *shrug*
BPD7
Aaron is spot on with FF6.
Just a DUMB movie in every regard. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I can’t believe people pay to see that movie (I got a free screening)
Vin Diesel wasn’t even good in it, and Dwayne Johnson who I generally like was just too stiff in this. The whole movie sucked and sucked bad.
Vin Diesel needs to do more Riddick movies. I would have been much happier with 5 Riddick movies LOL
Chaz Dumbaugh
You mean the Riddick movie thats coming out this fall, which does look good, but looks almost exactly the same as Pitch Black? That Riddick 😉
BPD7
Exactly! I said the same thing, why are they making this so similar to Pitch Black?! There’s a great story in that universe, no need to go back to Pitch Black.
John Burton
“Matrix” went 2 movies to far. Also, “Airplane”
William Henley
Oh, come on, Airplane 2 is one of the few movies that managed to surpase the origianl, and that is saying something, because Airplane is pure greatness.
I am starting to think I am the only person in the world who likes the entire Matrix universe. Matrix, Enter The Matrix, Animatrix, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions. Loved them all! The first is still the best, though.
Chaz Dumbaugh
I may have just disagreed with you big time on twilight but I fully agree with you on the Matrix, I played the games, love the trilogy and can easily sit down and watch them all over and over. Big fan of the whole world in the Matrix
Wurms
I think horror/thrillers have to have an insane amount of sequels. Thats what builds them into screen legends: Halloween, Nightmare, Friday 13th, even Candyman had sequels. Would we remember Freddy if Nightmare stopped after the craptastic part 2 and we never had Dream Warriors? Hockey masks would not be seen on halloween if they stopped after the first. So to say movies like Paranormal Activity and Resident Evil, or stuff like Saw, and Final Destinations have gone on long enough I think is unfair. Horror is a special genre in respect to outrageous number of sequels.
Comedies on the other hand, need to stop after one. Did we really need a Dumb and Dumberer? Or a Meet the Fockers? CaddyShack 2? It’s like your Uncle Fred telling the same damn joke every year at the family reunions. Right now they are remaking the Vacation movie, and I hope to god it doesnt go further and ruin Christmas Vacation.
Shayne Blakeley
This is true to an extent. Episodic horror franchises kind of get a pass. At the same time nobody on this earth wants a Shining prequel or a Poltergeist remake. If they put Robert Englund back in make up they can make the same NOES movie over and over every year and will always get my money, but the reboot? No thanks.
Chaz Dumbaugh
Thats such a shame too, I really really liked Jackie Earl Haley as Freddy, but WHY did they bother re-creating exact moments from the original and actually had it look worse. Not enough original ideas, the micro-naps thing was pretty damn sweet and it could have been SO much better if it just didnt copy so much stuff, Haley was almost as good as Englund IMO but in a different way. Hell I even liked the redone Jason in the remake of Friday, but I think I’m in the minority there 🙂
zetmoon
Underworld: KATE BECKINSALE IN LATEX WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!
Resident evil: Mila Jovovich and Ali Larter as a bonus in two installments
Fast & furious: hot cars, hot chick and cool guys
Marvel’s: I love ’em all
Expendables: awesome
EvilResident
The sequel to Silent Hill should not have been made.
Archangel
The Michael Bay Transformers movies need to stop.
William Henley
I think “Pirates of the Caribbean” went ONE movie too far. Yes, the first was the best, two and three were fun. The Fourth, however, was unwatchable.
“Superman” sucked after “Superman 2” (er, the Richard Donnor cut). “Superman Returns” was <iOkay. Not sure how I feel yet about “Man of Steel” – guess I will just have to wait and see it. Just kinda torn because the first Superman movie was really good.
The Bourne movies should have been left with the trilogy.
Every Bond movie after “Tomorrow Never Dies” sucked. (Actually, most of the Bond movies between Sean Connery and Pierce Bronson were pretty bad).
“Ice Age”. “Land Before Time”. Any Disney Direct-To-Video or Direct-to-television sequel.
“Poltergeist”. While 2 and 3 did help futher (and close out) the story, they were unnecessary, and not even in the same league as the original.
“Ghostbusters” had potential, and the animated television spinoff, “The Real Ghostbusters” was actually pretty decent (at least, as far as I remember it from when I was a kid). “Ghostbusters 2” was just BAD.
The “Star Trek” movies should have been killed after “First Contact”. Interstingly, I am starting to hear from people who are just now discovering the show that “Enterprise” should have had another season or two, and am surprised by how many new fans the show is getting.
I can’t believe that no one has mentioned it, but “Star Wars” should have been killed after “Return of the Jedi”.
“Aliens” should have been killed after the second installment. I waited until the single-discs were available and bought the first two movies. I don’t care about the extras, and so no reason to buy the boxed set.
I am half-tempted to say “Godzilla”, but the series was never something to take too seriously to begin with, so Godzilla gets a pass in my book.
“Home Alone”.
“Honey I Shrunk the Kids” sucked after the second movie.
Chapz Kilud
I actually liked Roger Moore a lot. My favorite Bond movie was Octopussy because it was the most believable Bond of all and there wasn’t anything out of this world like what we saw in Die Another Day’s invisible car and Icarus. Granted a couple of Moore’s Bond movie weren’t so good. But I liked his style and interpretation of Bond.
I thought they should have made the final movie with Next Generation cast with the story before the 2007 Star Trek reboot. If you read the comic book called “countdown”, it had really nice story. I didn’t think Insurrection was that bad. It was just a regular two TNG episodes put together for a movie. I had a lot of problem with Nemesis because the story made the least amount of sense of all Star Trek.
Ice Age was fun movie for children. The sequels were not the greatest but I couldn’t say I can find serious fault with them.
William Henley
I agree, I don’t blame Moore for bad stories. And Octopussy was one of the reason I used the word “most” and not “all”. 🙂
You know what I would love to see? I would love to see a movie or show based on teh Doctor Who / Star Trek crossovers.
As for Ice Age, I was talking about the francise. The first one was really good, but the sequels…. the second was okay, but after that, they were really bad
Chapz Kilud
It wouldn’t be bad to have Doctor Who/Star Trek crossovers. Sci-fi films are pretty stale right now.
There are so many movie that deserves a sequel but probably will never happen. I’d personally would love to see the John Carter sequels, although I know there is no way in hell they will ever make one, least one for every 9 books. I also love to see they make a trilogy out of Paul W.S. Anderson’s Three Musketeers. Dumas had Twenty Years After and Man in Iron Mask as trilogy together with Three Musketeers. I really liked the airships and the 3D effects. The movie did end with a teaser for a sequel. But it received very bad ratings, though it made almost 60 millions worldwide. Nobody has ever tried doing a trilogy on Alexandre Dumas’ trilogy. I really thought Anderson should give it a shot.
William Henley
John Carter may do better as a SyFy series than as a movie by Disney. The Disney movie was pretty good, but it just seems that it would be more likely to be successful as a B movie of the week. I can see why people didn’t like John Carter and I also cannot see Disney making another one.
Jessica L. Anaya
You must seriously be on crack all the Daniel Craig Bond movies have been good.
William Henley
Are we watching the same movies? Casino Royale was okay. Skyfall was Meh (mostly because of the unbelievability factor – just really poorly written). But Quantum of Solace is easily the worst Bond movie ever made. I don’t blame Craig for them, though – he is a great actor and I love him in other stuff. He just got stuck with AWFUL scripts. Almost remeniscent of Moore’s issue – great actor, horrible scripts.
Chapz Kilud
I don’t think Daniel Craig is the right person for James Bond. I thought he was too stiff and way too serious, almost as bad as Timothy Dalton. Connery, Moore, and Brosnen made you laugh because what they said or did was funny. When Craig tried to say something funny, it didn’t come out funny. James Bond should not be like Bourne.
Daniel Craig is not a bad actor. I thought he did a fantastic job in Dream House and Layer Cake.
Jesse
Not sure why Rocky and Rambo were brought up… they did end. Stallone has been done with both since 2008. I do think that Die Hard should end…. but first they need to redeem the franchise with an awesome final bow. Lethal Weapon new better to just end when they did… I cherish that franchise all the more for it.
Underworld should have ended at Rise of the Lycans, Awakening was worthless.
Julian
Funny you should mention Lethal Weapon. While not hated, the fourth installment got some pretty harsh “they should have stopped while they were ahead”-esque reviews in 1998. Retrospective reviews have been more mellow and kind.
William Henley
Not sure why Rocky and Rambo were brought up… they did end. Stallone has been done with both since 2008.
From the first paragraph of the article:
In today’s Roundtable, we talk about movie franchises that have needlessly dragged on for too long…
Pedram
Stallone was actually talking about making a Rambo 5, where he dies. I kind of don’t want to see a Rambo 5 just for that reason, but I guess it depends on how they do it.
Ryan M
I’m surprised to see that nobody mentioned any horror reboot series: Texas Chainsaw, Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. Sure, a couple of these have not yet spawned sequels, but they are totally unnecessary.
Jessica L. Anaya
a couple of these were good Friday the 13th A Nightmare on Elm Street etc.
Mike
RE – I can tolerate even though i didn’t like Extinction & the last one was actually a disappointment (I wanted to see Sienna more than anyone int this installment)Another is on the way apparently.
Underworld – Anytime Kate is a part of it i will see it. Though the last one was a little weak & i didn’t like the 3rd one.
Paranormal – After the first i didn’t even bother with the rest.
Pirates – They go in order (I passed on the last one)
Fast & Furious – The last one was passable at best. Hopefully they will stop after 7
Dcon
How did no one pick the Scary Movie franchise….just when I thought it was dead, it resurfaces! How do they keep getting greenlit?
Julian
The potential of money, dough and financial gain?
Scott Hunvald
How bout Shrek, the first two were great, the third didn’t have me laughing at all and the fourth, I didn’t bother with.
William Henley
I wish I could give you a thumbs up! Totally agree.
The fourth, while no where near as good as one and 2, was still better than the trash that was Shrek the Third. I also wasn’t going to bother with the Fourth, but I ended up taking my friend’s kids.
Lord Bowler
I disagree with some of the statements above:
Many franchises start out good but become cash cows with diminishing quality. Other franchises do the smart thing and reboot or re-invent the franchise.
Franchises that have gone too long and are only around for the cash they bring in are the Resident Evil franchise, which was really good through the second film. While the fourth film attempted to reboot the franchise, it was just more of the same. Let’s hope Six ends the franchise and let’s Milla do something else.
Die Hard was good through the first two and is just around for the cash through the fifth which didn’t even fit in this franchise. Same goes for Underworld and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Rambo and Rocky were good franchises where the last film attempted to Reboot the franchises. I enjoyed the last Rambo, and saw it as good end of the series. I’ve not seen the last few Rocky films.
The Fast and Furious and Mission Impossible franchises are good examples of Reboot/Relaunching of the Franchise. With F&F 4, the franchise began anew with Fast 5, 6 and 7. With MI4:Ghost Protocol, this franchise was rebooted and was a great movie. In the case of F&F, it is successful because entire new audiences are seeing these with no knowledge of the prior 4 films or most of the prior films.
I was never a fan of the Paranormal Activity or Saw franchises and seeing one each of these was enough for me. Same goes for Hangover.
I wouldn’t consider Twilight a franchise because it is a trilogy. That being said, let’s stop with the carbon copies like Beautiful Creatures, Red Riding Hood, et al.
I don’t understand the hate that Luke has for the Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man 3 was a good movie and Thor 2 looks really good. I wouldn’t be so confident of a Phase 3 but that’s a long ways off. I liked that these films operate as a stand-alone and parts of a whole.
William Henley
I wouldn’t consider Twilight a franchise because it is a trilogy.
There are six books – 5 published in book form and one published online. From those six books, 4 of them were used to make 5 movies.
William Henley
I should point out that the 5th book that was published is really a short, and not a novel, and the one published online is not finished.
Pedram
It’s too bad you haven’t seen the last few Rocky films. Rocky 4 was my personal favourite; 5 was a disappointment, but 6 totally made up for it.
Chapz Kilud
Nobody mentioned Jaws sequels?
Cowbear
Hasn’t anybody mentioned Disney sequels to animated “classics” that nobody asked for”? Mulan 2, Pocahontas 2, Lion King 3, Tarzan 2, Sword in the Stone 2, Lilo and Stitch 2, Brother Bear 2, Cinderella 3, Lady and the Tramp 2.., they never end!
And also from Disney, was the world really clamouring for Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3?
William Henley
Yes, but they were eaten up by the under-4 crowd. 🙂 My goddaughter had all the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movies, and ate them up!
Ryan Megan
I never understood people who get passionately upset about sequels or remakes.
Bad films are bad films. Originality, rarely has anything to do with quality.
I’ll take an unoriginal entertainment over an original turd any day, but who wouldn’t really?
So what’s the beef? It’s that we know sequels tend to be of lesser quality as they go on. If the goal is to avoid watching bad movies, isn’t this of some help in avoiding them? Is it not hard to avoid watching Resident Evil 14?
They’ll stop getting made when they stop making money, so for the time being the public seems to want most of these. Who are you to say no to them? Invest that passion into movies you want to see made and never look back.
Josh Zyber
AuthorThe problem is that the more money Hollywood spends on bad sequels and remakes, the less is available for original projects.
William Henley
How about this for a future roundtable – sequels that were as good or better than the original movie. A few that come to mind off hand – Airplane 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Shrek 2, Aliens, Terminator 2, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.
Squire
The good thing by eating too much popcorn films it will turn bad. I long for these days…
I liked Resident Evil, Underworld, Star Trek, but I may have no taste. 🙂
I see that peoples have different opinons, I am more interested in why peoples think that Pirates 4 are bad, while I liked all of them. I didn’t like the Marvel films, Iron Man 2 , Thor, Capt. America, Hulk, Avengers, they’re too airy and have no taste, no substance, so why are most of the peoples liking them?
The fun thing with male-oriented films is that’s usually ONE sexy women in these, as a counterweight to all of the males. maybe to keep up the attraction or to avoid the gayish feeling, e.g. keeping it political correct.
When it’s a women-oriented films it’s usually a lot of womens and a few guys into it, either femine, gay or a jackass, and he’s often there to support them, while the female in the male-oriented films are usually as eyecandy, or in a half-emotional-love-plot, or/and strong assertive woman who shoot a lot. Boring!
And why do most of the films have guns in them?
As a Norwegian I really dislike how the guns are perceived as a powerful and fun tool of action,
are all of the americans really tolerant of the gun usage, everyone sleeps with a gun under the pillow, shoot first, ask later, never hits if you’re a bad person?