The idea of an insufferable amount of follows up to an initial success is nothing new; The Planet Of The Apes was doing it five years before Star Wars hit our screens. My problem is that while with POTA (and Star Wars to follow it) each new entry tried to be different and further the story, modern sequels can often fall into retreading or retroactive destroying of the original. Earlier this week I showed you some awesome looking original films coming this summer. But while 2013 is bright, the state of 2014 and beyond is so far a little less fresh. Sure, therell be plenty of exciting cinema thats yet to be announced, but it does look a rather sorry state. As well as the exciting sequels were all anticipating (Star Wars, The Hobbit and anything Marvel), theres an awful lot of unexpected films coming from franchises we all thought were dead. The age old rule of the box office ruling over quality seems to be still true, as were faced with third, fourth, fifth and even sixth instalments in series that have no conceivable place to go. To prepare you for the inevitable mundanity of their releases, heres ten of these unexpected (and undeserving) sequels to extinct franchises. And wed happily bet on them all ending up terrible.
10. Resident Evil 6
With each film in the Resident Evil series being adorned by a similar sounding subtitle (we've had such unique names as Apocalypse, Extinction, Afterlife and Retribution) its not surprising that five have managed to slip past audiences. What is surprising is that, thanks to a lucrative international market, all five are considered a commercial success. The (what passes for it to general audiences) stylised trailers put it firmly in marmite territory, putting off as many as it draws in, but it seems that the lack of any coherent plot has made the film cross international boundaries well. So even if the dearth of screenings has you convinced outside of violence-hungry teens no one cares, you have to remember theres a world full of violence-hungry teens out there. Very few series need six films and those that do tend to have at least one weak link. Resident Evil already has five and don't expect the next one to be any different.