10 Movie Franchises That Became Parodies Of Themselves

4. Jaws

Fans of late-night TV or misleading DVD covers (there's box-sets that omit the original) will be all too familiar with the Jaws sequels. Taking Spielberg's industry-redefining classic and turning it into a typical, blood-soaked creature feature, the sequels, to begin with at least, were little more than rip-offs, taking their time to slip into parody. The first follow-on may boast Roy Scheider, but it just whacks of something desperate to capture the magic of Jaws, rather than a genuine continuation of it. Heck, even Jaws 3, which features some of the worst specials effects ever committed to film, stands as just being a badly made film; there's a kernel of an earnest idea hidden under the 3D effects. Jaws: The Revenge is the point where the series went over the edge, its ineptness actually mocking the first movie. While Steven Spielberg kept the rubber shark hidden for most of his film because, put simply, it looked rubbish, The Revenge shows its from all angles, even when it's clearly a minature model. It's bad direction, but when coupled with the shark's inexplicable ability to hunt a group of people over hundreds of miles it seems almost like it's making a joke on itself. Sadly it's just got so bad it was impossible not to laugh.