10 Planned Movie Sequels To Failed Franchises

By Baz Greenland / March 15, 2016

There was a time when you could count great movie sequels on one, maybe two hands. Certainly those that seemed to surpass the original - Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Spider-Man 2, these weren't just great films, but continuations of what became massive movie franchises. In today's era, said franchises are everywhere, from the uber-successful Marvel Cinematic Universe to upcoming (and sometime questionable) franchises like Universal horror or... well... Robin Hood. It doesn't matter what the question is, a stand-alone Friar Tuck movie isn't the answer. But that's the thing about franchises; they're unpredictable, and seldom work out the way the studios expect. Even the most bankable names and faces can come to a crashing halt - failures like Batman & Robin and Police Academy 7: Mission To Moscow proving so bad that they killed off their entire institutions. Of course, before a time of death is officially announced, there's already a lot of planning gone into the next installment under the misguided presumption of both critical and box office success. Hollywood is littered with unfinished scripts and ideas for sequels that never saw the light of day. I recently took a look at 10 planned seasons of cancelled TV shows, now I'm taking a look 10 planned sequels to failed movie franchises. Movie gems lost to us, or lucky escapes? I'll let you decide...

10. Speed 3

Okay Speed isn't going to top the list of anyone's favourite films but it it is a great action movie and it is very fun to watch. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock had sizzling chemistry, Dennis Hopper made for a great baddie and the premise - a bus full of people will explode if it falls below 50mph - made for some exciting, action packed moments which sometimes is all you need from a action movie. Plus Joss Whedon wrote most of the dialogue though you won't see his name on Graham Yost's script. But then came Speed 2: Cruise Control. Keanu Reeves dropped out and was replaced with Jason Patric. This time, Bullock's Annie was trapped on a cruise liner sent speeding towards an oil tanker. Needless to say this turd of a movie killed the franchise forever. But there was hope to recapture the heights of the original and plans for a third Speed film have been mooted, with Keanu Reeves talking about returning for a sequel as late as 2014. And before his death in 2010, Dennis Hopper also discussed the possibility of returning as original villain Howard Payne. And with Bullock also mentioning returning as Anne a third time, its seems that 20th Century Fox have been open to Speed 3 for some time. Will it happen? Unlikely. Unless they can feature Reeve's Jack Traven on a speeding penny farthing. Because I would most definitely watch that...