To prove that no one is above perpetrating a quick cash in to milk a prior success, I have decided to create yet another list of films that jumped the shark of their franchise. As explained in my prior Jumping the Shark post, the term to "jump the shark" signifies that an artistic property has lost all credibility due to committing a staggeringly poor artistic decision both insulting and stupid. The idiom derives from an episode of the sitcom Happy Days where the Fonz jumps over a shark while on water skis in defiance of logic, good taste, and artistic credibility. Often movie franchises insists on pumping out sequel after sequel until the proverbial artistic horse is not only beaten past death but its corpse humped into an unrecognizable powdery dust. I present my second list so conscientious filmgoers can pinpoint when a franchise jumped the shark and give the rest of the series a very-wide berth. I invite you to join me on a cinematic journey into the pantheon of failure.
8. Rocky V
After a series of stellar popcorn entertainments the goodwill and credibility of the Rocky franchise went from flying high to crashing and burning in a Hindenburg-esque catastrophe when its fifth instalment Rocky V debuted in 1990. The film attempted to take Rocky back to his roots by giving him brain damage, robbing him of the vast fortune he accrued in the last four chapters, and throwing him back into the gutter of the Philly neighborhood Balboa called home in 1976's Rocky. This deeply misguided effort found Rocky dealing with complicated emotional and familial issues like whether to allow his son to wear an earring. Adding insult to injury, Rocky's squares-off against his new antagonist, Tommy Gunn (real-life boxer Tommy Morrison making his first and only big screen appearance), in a back alley instead of a legitimate match that might have earned Rocky back some of the money he lost. Thankfully, Stallone returned to form with Rocky Balboa. Now the world is only one sequel away from Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge.