10 Costly Mistakes That Doomed Great Movie Franchises

Just about every movie studio on planet Earth is currently doing everything in their power to kick off the next must-see movie franchise. And it's not difficult to understand why.

If they're successful in hooking audiences via some fascinating characters and the promise of more compelling adventures and twists, there'a strong chance they could ultimately create a steady stream of sizeable income for the next decade or longer.

That's if they can keep from making some rather costly mistakes, of course. Sadly, though, when it comes to the following collection of once glorious big-screen franchises, after things started out so positively, a variety of things started to go unquestionably wrong.

Had the minds behind galaxy's far, far away had a more concrete plan from the get-go, spider-filmmakers not wanted to squeeze an excessive amount of baddies into the finished product, or the folks creating the next chunk of action from a beloved sci-fi franchise not decided to kill off adored characters, who knows whether these movie series would have failed in the way they ultimately did.

One thing is for certain, however. And it's that each of these errors eventually spelled doom for some of the most awesome movie franchises in cinema history.

After a set of prequel flicks had largely divided the Star Wars fanbase, it came as a pleasant surprise to find just about every lover of the galaxy far, far away walking out of the first Skywalker Saga Episode in ten years with a smile on their face.

People who wanted to see more jaw-dropping visuals, lightsabers clash in epic duels, and invest in a bunch of brand new heroes and villains fighting over the fate of this galaxy, were given precisely that in Episode VII: The Force Awakens. And others who just wanted something that felt like the heart-warming Star Wars they'd been raised on back before midi-chlorians and politics began infecting the franchise got what they were looking for, too.

But then things started to get a little unfocused.

While Rian Johnson's Episode VIII: The Last Jedi was certainly a bold departure from what came before it, stuff like its laughing off of the identity of Rey's parents and the idea of Snoke being the trilogy's major threat definitely rubbed some folks up the wrong way.

And the decision to hand the story back to J. J. Abrams after Colin Trevorrow's exit from Episode IX - one that led to the director pretty much undoing everything Johnson had dared to explore in Episode VIII - only highlighted how foolish it was of Disney/Lucasfilm to not head into this huge challenge without a general beginning, middle, and end plan for their directors to stick to.

The inconsistent sequels will forever sit as a reminder of what not to do for Lucasfilm going forward.

So, here's hoping the franchise's long-awaited return to theatres in the not too distant future comes with a more carefully thought-out plan from the likes of Dave Filoni and co.