10 Movie Franchises That Destroyed Themselves With ONE Decision

If there's any one rule where franchise filmmaking is concerned, it's surely to strike while the iron is hot. If audiences are foaming at the mouth for a series, get while the going is good rather than leave viewers waiting so long for a new movie that they eventually lose interest.

That's absolutely what doomed the Sin City series to a premature - yet oddly protracted - demise.

Robert Rodriguez's 2005 adaptation of Frank Miller's acclaimed graphic novel received rave reviews for its visual style and strong ensemble cast, while also turning a tidy profit at the box office, such that Rodriguez immediately put plans in motion for a sequel.

Despite a script being completed by 2007, shooting was delayed by both the availability of cast members and studio red tape, such that Sin City: A Dame to Kill For wasn't finally released until 2014, almost an entire decade after the original.

During the interim, the zeitgeist had moved on: comic book movies were everywhere and the implied "prestige" of graphic novel adaptations had long worn off.

Though hardly a bad sequel, it just felt like too little, too late, and unsurprisingly tanked at the box office. It's a shame, as with the right approach Sin City could've been an ongoing noir anthology series with new ensemble casts continually being rotated in.

Instead, with the series' theatrical prospects dead, a TV reboot is currently in the works.