10 Long-Awaited Movie Sequels That Will Literally Never Get Made
Don't hold your breath for Man Of Steel 2...
Sequels have always been one of Hollywood's most lucrative cash-cows, and in recent years the movie business has been capitalizing on the huge boom in nostalgia, diving deep into their back catalogues to deliver sequels that are arriving decades after the franchise in question's last outing.
The Bad Boys recently returned after 17 years away, and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's latest outing is currently the highest-grossing movie of the year, while Sylvester Stallone has also gotten in on the action in a big way by bringing both Rocky Balboa and Rambo back to our screens after an extended hiatus.
While long-awaited sequels like Toy Story 3 and 4, Mad Max: Fury Road, Dumb and Dumber To and Star Wars: The Force Awakens have all done big business, there are just as many that have failed to show that absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder.
Movie studios are never ones to let a brand with name recognition go to waste, but there are countless sequels in various stages of development that will ultimately end up never seeing the light of day.
10. The Expendables 4
The Expendables franchise was like catnip to fans of action cinema, with the entire concept of the series being based entirely on wish fulfillment by gathering together as many icons from the genre's past and present as possible and watching them decimate entire armies of faceless goons without breaking a sweat.
Unfortunately, the third installment seemed to forget this entirely, and for completely unknown reasons decided to become a bloodless PG-13 outing that brought in a younger cast of fresh-faced and completely banal faces to do the majority of the heavy lifting.
As a result, The Expendables 3 suffered from both the worst reviews and lowest box office yet, although the latter wasn't helped by the full movie leaking online three weeks before it was due to hit theaters. A fourth installment was first announced in March 2014 by Pierce Brosnan of all people, but six years later and we're still no further forward.
Every now and again we hear rumors of The Expendables 4 finally coming together, but nothing concrete actually happens. We're now almost six years removed from the last movie, and with Sylvester Stallone now 73 and arguably busier than ever, the chances of the band getting back together are remote at best.