10 Movie Franchises That Died In 2015

8. Taken

The Franchise: 2008's Taken was a surprise hit that nobody saw coming, making a stonking $226.8 million against a modest $25 million budget and reinventing Liam Neeson's career overnight, reigniting his popularity as a middle-aged action hero. Unsurprisingly, a sequel followed with 2012's Taken 2 (Taken Too?), which made a mind-boggling $376.1 million amid mostly negative reviews, ensuring that the gravy train wouldn't be stopping quite yet. Taken 3 was coming. How It Died: Taken 3 released at the beginning of 2015 to some of the year's worst reviews and a solid $325.8 million gross, even if slightly down from the previous movie's take. Neeson has promised fans this will be his last performance in the part, and though it wouldn't surprise anyone if he came back to it a few years from now, the fact that he's already 63 years old and looked incredibly tired in Taken 3 should age him out of the role before T4ken can become a thing (hopefully, anyway). NBC are trying to cobble together a Taken TV series with a new actor playing a young Bryan Mills, but it'll surprise roughly no-one if it doesn't even make it past the pilot stage. The premise is totally played out, and cinematically for sure, the series is dead.