10 Movie Franchises That Never Got Better Than The First Film

10. Back To The Future

The Franchise: One of the biggest misconceptions about Back To The Future is that the To Be Continued... that bursts onto the screen as Doc takes Marty to the future was always there, either a statement of intention by director Robert Zemeckis to franchise his nostalgic sci-fi comedy or a little joke to infuriate the audience. In fact that final image, which upset long-time fans with its absence on the DVD, was only added to the film for the VHS release to raise awareness of the impending Part II. But even though a trilogy was never the plan, boy did they do a good job of it. Why The First Was Best: The sequels, particularly the second, aren't a massive drop in quality. Part II, having the character's readily set up, embraces its sci-fi side more fully and has actually found its way into popular culture; the incessant "today is the day Marty McFly travelled to the future" meme is testament to that. But ultimately it can't top the original. Those who experienced it upon release have a rather over-inflated view of it, but there's no denying the first Back To The Future is a pretty awesome movie, tapping into the eighties love of sci-fi and teen drama. But it's not just wittily written and well paced; there's a real attention to detail in there. No amount of hover skateboards can beat that.