10 Movie Franchises That Have Backed Themselves Into A Corner

No way out.

Movie franchises are big, ugly things. Not officially, of course, but you'd have to admit that - in this current climate - there are few exceptions to the rule. There's something inherently icky about the term "movie franchise," after all; audiences tend to associate them with consumerism at its worst. "What use is a movie nowadays unless it gets a sequel?" could very well work as the unofficial mantra of Hollywood executives. The problem, then, is that most movie franchises are cynical in their intentions; they exist purely as a means of generating profit over a long period of time. Whilst there's nothing ultimately wrong with that - making movies is, after all, a business - audiences often find it difficult to buy into the idea that works of creativity are ultimately generated for money-making purposes. So the sequels come fast and thick. And with fast and thick, of course, comes dumb and thick. But not all sequels are considerate of their futures; sometimes a franchise forgets that it needs to spawn a follow-up one day and digs itself into a hole, too busy thinking about what's happening instead of what might happen. Here, then, are 10 movie franchises that - either through mass expansion, dumb oversights, or because they should have quit whilst they were ahead ages ago - have backed themselves into a corner. Seriously: it's going to be super difficult to keep these franchises moving forwards with any amount of credibility. Not that Hollywood has really noticed...
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.