10 Flop Movies That Somehow Got Sequels
7. Terminator Salvation
It's painfully apparent that nobody's had a clear idea of what to do with the Terminator franchise for about 20 years, yet the IP is also too precious and potential-rich a commodity for the bean-counters to can it outright.
After James Cameron's original two movies became pop-culture phenoms, 2003's third film grossed a not-bad $433.4 million against a $187.3 million budget.
Six years later, Terminator Salvation was released, functioning as both a sequel to Terminator 3 and a soft-reboot of the franchise, drafting in Christian Bale to portray a middle-aged John Connor, all while Arnold Schwarzenegger sat on the sidelines due to serving as Governor of California.
On an eye-watering $200 million price tag, Salvation made a disappointing $371.4 million - a mediocre figure attributed to both mixed reviews and Schwarzenegger's absence.
Despite the film's failure causing production company The Halcyon Company to file for bankruptcy, the franchise was revived again after the rights were acquired by Annapurna Pictures, leading to the release of a fifth film, Terminator Genisys, in 2015.
Against the odds and largely negative reviews, Genisys was a modest commercial success, grossing $440.6 million against a hemmed-in $158 million budget, aided by a massive over-performance in China, becoming the first Hollywood release to gross $100 million in the region.
However, Genisys still failed to meet the studio's expectations, leading to a sixth film, Terminator: Dark Fate, which operated as a direct sequel to Terminator 2 while ignoring the three prior movies.
This one flopped brutally enough - just $261.1 million on a $196 million budget - that it might've actually finally killed the franchise off for good. And honestly, here's hoping.