10 Movie Franchises That Died In 2022

No single cinematic franchise has been put through the wringer more this past year than the DC Extended Universe, which is now functionally dead.

Warner Bros.' attempt to give DC its own MCU has been troubled from the very beginning since 2013's Man of Steel, but 2022 finally saw the studio effectively decide to cut their losses and more-or-less close the thing down.

Where to begin? Batgirl's release was straight-up cancelled, Black Adam flopped, and James Gunn and Peter Safran were subsequently announced as the new heads of DC Studios.

Though Gunn and Safran are still mapping out their plans for the future of DC cinema, it's been reported that they're wiping most of the DCEU out in an attempt to build their own franchise free of the DCEU's obvious baggage.

Black Adam 2 has been cancelled, Henry Cavill's recently reported return as Superman has been nixed, and Wonder Woman 3 has also been given the chop.

Recent reports indicate that Gunn and Safran will move ahead with the Peacemaker cast and the more prominent actors from The Suicide Squad (Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, Viola Davis, and Daniela Melchior), while possibly recasting Jason Momoa in the part of Lobo.

And so, 2023 will be a rather awkward transitional period, given that the DCEU still has four movies awaiting release - Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

None of these films are expected to carry over into Gunn and Safran's new DC universe, meaning that their release basically feels like a perfunctory obligation.

And with audiences now aware that these films won't be going anywhere, and will likely set up future stories we'll never actually get to see, it'll be interesting to see how their box office is affected.

After almost a decade of struggling to create a cohesive universe, it's probably for the best if Gunn and Safran just grab what works and draw a line under the rest.