10 Films That Should Never Have Become Franchises

10. Robocop

As much a satire as an action movie, Robocop owes a great deal to the verve of Paul Verhoeven, a Dutch director making his second Hollywood movie, who brings an outsider’s eye to what could have been a by-the-numbers sci-fi movie. Like the 2014 remake, you might say.

Verhoeven didn’t return for the sequels and it shows: the first one was mean-spirited and humourless, the other bland and unmemorable. Neither was particularly exciting and their attempts at satire seemed to have been filtered through a focus group.

According to Frank Miller, who co-wrote both sequels, that’s pretty much how it was. He’d turn in a draft and producers Orion would automatically demand rewrites until it no longer resembled his original story. Maybe that's why Robocop’s Directive #262 reads “Avoid Orion Meetings.”

Getting back to the 2014 remake, the makers of the next Robocop movie swear it isn’t part of their film’s timeline. Yeah man whatever.