10 Big Budget Movie 'Franchise Starters' That Totally Failed

5. The Golden Compass (2007) Budget: $180m/Total Gross: $372.2m

The Golden Compass

Based on Philip Pullman's hugely popular His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass was surely hoping to follow in the footsteps of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which grossed an impressive $745m worldwide in 2005. On paper, it all sounded very promising; a prime late November release date, a star-studded cast featuring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Sam Elliot and Christopher Lee, not to mention a pre-existing fanbase that had seen the book series sell like gangbusters. All overseen by one of the directors of American Pie.

Critical reception to the movie was lukewarm at best, and the film only grossed $70m domestic. Despite earning over $300m at the international box office, most of the overseas distribution rights had been sold off to cover the hefty production budget. Ultimately, the disappointing performance of The Golden Compass proved to be one of the final nails in the coffin of New Line Cinema, which was merged with Warner Bros in early 2008.

The movie did pick up an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (beating out Michael Bay's Transformers, no less!) but if you can't make an entertaining fantasy movie when you have Ian McKellen and Ian McShane voicing armored polar bears, then quite frankly you don't deserve to be a franchise.

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