10 Movie Franchises That Died In 2021
8. Resident Evil
Oh we so, so wanted the new Resident Evil film to be good, but it just wasn't, like, at all.
It's still totally shocking that Paul W.S. Anderson's original Resident Evil franchise had enough commercial longevity to produce six films that generated over $1.2 billion at the box office, despite almost all of them being not being very good - or faithful! - at all.
Mere months after the release of 2017's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, a reboot was announced which eventually became Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
Touted as a more modest, lower-budgeted, and source-faithful adaptation of the video game series, the promise spoke for itself, that writer-director Johannes Roberts (The Strangers: Prey at Night) and his decent cast could satisfy those who felt the Anderson movies disrespected their inspiration.
Though Welcome to Raccoon City gets a few points for some of its cool sets and its portrayal of Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) in particular, it was largely panned by critics for its terrible script and disappointing lack of even basic suspense.
The fan reaction wasn't much kinder, with the film receiving a damning "C+" CinemaScore and being taken to task for its own deviations from the material and frustratingly low production values.
But bad reviews haven't ever stopped a Resident Evil movie from making bank before, yet in this case - perhaps combined with the pandemic, poor marketing, and franchise fatigue - audiences just didn't turn up for it.
On a $25 million budget, Welcome to Raccoon City has recouped just $33 million worldwide to date, making it a sure box office bomb and ensuring for near-certain that the proposed sequel - which would reportedly adapt both Resident Evil Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 4 - won't be happening.
The only realistic shot that Resident Evil has at continuing on in live-action form is with the upcoming Netflix series, because if Welcome to Raccoon City is the best that can be done cinematically, it's just as well that it dies off.