10 All-Time Great Franchises That Still Had One Bad Movie

If Sam Raimi had been allowed to make Spider-Man 3 without the heavy hands of studio interference, then we'd no doubt be talking about one of the all-time great trilogies, not just in the comic book genre. However, after bowing to Sony's demands, people only talk about the third installment as an example of how having too many villains in the same movie is never a good idea.

Unlike the director, fans were incredibly excited about the prospect of seeing Venom in live-action for the first time, until everybody's worst fears about the potential miscasting of Topher Grace were well and truly confirmed. Thomas Haden Church's Sandman could have made for a tragic figure with an emotionally satisfying redemption arc, but instead he was reduced to the role of glorified henchman.

There was so much going on in Spider-Man 3 that very little of it managed to stick, and Raimi ended up walking away from the franchise entirely after becoming disillusioned with being constantly overruled by Sony, who only went and made the exact same mistakes again when they rebooted the franchise just five years later.