10 Movie Endings That Basically Doomed Their Franchise

Johnny Depp? No thanks.

By Jack Pooley /

Warner Bros.

Now, nobody wants movie franchises to just rest on their laurels and do the same old, boring thing every single time, but it's also fair to say that sometimes filmmakers get a little over-eager and ahead of themselves.

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The result is often a shocking ending that doesn't just harm the movie itself, but potentially condemns the entire franchise itself to the cinematic abyss.

Creative gambles can of course pay off - Avengers: Endgame introduced time travel to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and seems to have basically gotten away with it.

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Elsewhere, franchises can make huge mistakes that actually lead to great things - Rocky V "ended" the series on a depressing low only for Rocky Balboa and the Creed movies to restore the franchise's glory.

But that sadly isn't very common, nor does it appear to be the case with these 10 movies, which with their brave, possibly stupid storytelling left-turns, created major creative roadblocks for their franchise moving forward.

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In some instances these series have already come to an unceremonious end in light of these endings, while in others it remains to be seen whether or not they can escape the corner they've written themselves into...