10 Huge Movie Franchises That Don't Have A 5 Star Entry

3. X-Men (2000-2014)

For a franchise that has run for almost 15 years and totaled seven movies including sequels, prequels and spin-offs, the X-Men series has impressively remained one of the most consistent big-name brands in Hollywood both critically and commercially. Of course, there have been missteps along the way but that is to be expected given the myriad of writers, directors and actors that have been involved with the franchise over the years. The cinematic exploits of the merry band of mutants have resulted in good movies, great ones and the terrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but the franchise is still yet to deliver an undisputed classic. With that being said, barring the first Wolverine spin-off and the disappointing Last Stand, the franchise has been remarkably consistent. Bryan Singer's X-Men served as the catalyst to the superhero boom that continues today thanks to a strong focus on plot and character to go with the action sequences, and with the mythology established the sequel saw the director go for broke to deliver a wildly ambitious blockbuster that still ranks as one of the best comic book movies ever made. Following a dip in quality with the aforementioned Origins and Last Stand, Matthew Vaughn's First Class revitalized the franchise with a smart and stylish prequel, before James Mangold's The Wolverine gave Hugh Jackman's iconic character a much more satisfying standalone story. The return of Bryan Singer to the fold coincided with a critical and commercial high for the franchise, with Days of Future past merging the casts of both timelines and straightening out the continuity of the series, as well as delivering the best X-Men movie yet. With insanely high expectations surrounding 2016's Apocalypse, can the franchise raise the bar yet again and deliver its first stone-cold classic?