10 Movie Franchises That Died In 2022
3. Fletch
The cinematic franchise based on Gregory Mcdonald's popular Fletch mystery novels began with the 1985 Chevvy Chase-starring film, the success of which spawned a 1989 sequel, Fletch Lives, which proved far more modest of a hit.
A planned third film starring Chase never materialised, and after numerous attempts to produce a new Fletch movie - including a Ben Affleck-starring one directed by Kevin Smith - we finally got one this year.
Confess, Fletch was effectively a soft reboot/spiritual successor of the two Chase films, with Jon Hamm now ushered in to play the titular reporter, while Superbad's Greg Mottola served as writer-director.
The result was a film that scored strong reviews off both Hamm's terrific performance and the sharp script, yet Paramount sent it out to die regardless.
The studio barely marketed the $20 million mystery-comedy at all, which combined with its day-and-date VOD release in the US ensured it didn't have a hope in hell of turning a profit theatrically.
Ultimately it made just $656,000 in cinemas, perhaps in large part because audiences simply can't be persuaded to leave the house for small-scale genre films like this anymore, no matter how well received they are.
Mottola has been vocal about his disappointment with how minimally Confess, Fletch was marketed, and though he confirmed that he has been hired to write a sequel script based on the 1978 novel Fletch's Fortune, he's not sure if it'll ever get made.
And indeed, there's virtually zero chance of a Hamm-starring Fletch sequel happening, sadly. Expect the franchise to be "retired" for another decade or two before it's dusted off for another movie, or perhaps more likely a streaming series.