10 Movie Franchises That Have Backed Themselves Into A Corner

Movie franchises are big, ugly things. Not officially, of course, but you'd have to admit that - in this current climate - there are few exceptions to the rule. There's something inherently icky about the term "movie franchise," after all; audiences tend to associate them with consumerism at its worst. "What use is a movie nowadays unless it gets a sequel?" could very well work as the unofficial mantra of Hollywood executives. The problem, then, is that most movie franchises are cynical in their intentions; they exist purely as a means of generating profit over a long period of time. Whilst there's nothing ultimately wrong with that - making movies is, after all, a business - audiences often find it difficult to buy into the idea that works of creativity are ultimately generated for money-making purposes. So the sequels come fast and thick. And with fast and thick, of course, comes dumb and thick. But not all sequels are considerate of their futures; sometimes a franchise forgets that it needs to spawn a follow-up one day and digs itself into a hole, too busy thinking about what's happening instead of what might happen. Here, then, are 10 movie franchises that - either through mass expansion, dumb oversights, or because they should have quit whilst they were ahead ages ago - have backed themselves into a corner. Seriously: it's going to be super difficult to keep these franchises moving forwards with any amount of credibility. Not that Hollywood has really noticed...