Aside from forcing expensive technical advancements on consumers (3D, 48fps, Matthew McConaughey's acting ability), theres nothing Hollywood loves more than franchises. And its easy to understand why. For all their rallying against how unimaginative the film industry is, audiences never seem happier than with the safety of a familiar story. The general thinking to be why chance your hard earned cash on some unknown when theres another Expendables to see; the first two may be rubbish, but at least we know what were getting. It may be stifling when every other release feels like its a sequel, but its yet to stop the box office ticking over. It wasnt that long ago when sequels were regarded very differently. Rather than bigger and hopefully better, it was cheaper and hopefully not that much worse. Film series didnt escalate to massive payoffs, they fizzled on until they werent worth it. The someone realised it's a lot easier to twist an existing idea than do something original and thus we arrive at the present. As much as everybody seems to love franchises, theyre not infallible. Some series come to a natural conclusion, while others unexpectedly fail to deliver and become ostracised. Of course, some franchises are fully destructible; even the abhorrent Batman And Robin was cancelled out in eight short years when Batman Begins tumbled in. But today were talking the here and now, looking at ten films from 2014 that will probably be the final entry in their series.
