You know what really stinks? When an average movie - or even a dreadful one - gets great box office returns and spawns a sequel. You know what's even worse? When that sequel gets great box office returns, and spawns another sequel. Before you know it, it's become a full-fledged franchise, with film after film after film. But you know what's even worse than those above options? When there's a really great movie that gets almost completely ignored, either in the form of bad critical reviews or low box office. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense... some of the best movies ever made get shafted, and mentioning them to your friends results in nothing but blank stares. Of course, there's also some that were flawed, but could have fixed those flaws with sequels. Well, it's time to fix that. It's time for us to review 10 movies that got little to no appreciation, but totally deserve to have full-fledged franchises...
10. Sahara (2005)
Clive Cussler had formerly had one of his books adapted to the big screen. 'Raise The Titanic!', released in 1980, earned back only one fourth of its budget, and was outright panned by critics. 25 years later, someone tried again. The result was pretty much the same. 'Sahara' - released 2005 - lost between 40 and 80 million dollars, and had lukewarm responses from audience and critics alike. But aside from the problems it had, the fundamentals are all there for a franchise. Three pretty popular leads, all willing to go for a sequel. It has gobs of books to draw material from, and it's thematically similar to other very successful series, in particular Indiana Jones and National Treasure. Plus, Clive Cussler has written 22 novels featuring the hero Dirk Pitt to date, so they wouldn't lack for material to adapt.