10 Franchises That Peaked With The First Movie
6. Predator
John McTiernan's Predator could very well be the manliest movie ever made, full of gigantic musclebound actors carrying guns big enough to be mounted to the side of an aircraft carrier through the jungle, all while dropping one-liners and blowing sh*t up with reckless abandon.
An all-time action classic, the generic shoot-em-up narrative takes a wild and gloriously demented left turn into sci-fi territory as Arnold Schwarzenegger proves definitively that he, not an eight-foot tall alien with advanced cloaking and hunting technology, is the baddest motherf**ker in the galaxy.
While a massively underrated cult classic, Predator 2 nonetheless failed to recapture the magic of the original despite some inventive action beats that make the most of the urban setting, held together by Danny Glover's breathless central performance and able support from the eclectic supporting cast that includes Bill Paxton and Gary Busey.
After laying dormant for well over a decade, Alien vs Predator and AvP: Requiem where when things really went off the rails for the dreadlocked extraterrestrials, who had their terrifying aura stripped away in two turgid monster mash-ups that did more much more harm to the character than Dutch's team of commandos ever could.
The Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators wisely took the franchise back to its macho ensemble roots and delivered a satisfying shoot-em-up that may just be the best follow-up the series has to offer, despite frequently coming across as a glorified homage to the original.
Time will tell if Shane Black's upcoming blockbuster The Predator can restore the iconic character to its former glories, but its not as if the bar has been set particularly high when it comes to sequels.