10 Movie Franchises That Probably Just Died

Though the Hotel Transylvania franchise has received consistently mixed notices from critics, the response from general audiences has been considerably more positive, with the first three films all receiving an "A-" CinemaScore while grossing a combined $1.36 billion globally.

A fourth film, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, was released this past January and billed as the final entry into the franchise.

Between Sony foregoing a major theatrical release and selling the streaming rights to Amazon, and Adam Sandler not reprising the lead role of Count Dracula, it felt very much like an unfortunate, downer swan song for the series.

Reviews were once again mixed, and Transformania went on to receive the lowest Rotten Tomatoes audience score of the series, rocking a mere 45% approval rating.

The sequel came and went without much of a trace, and while Sony likely avoided losing money on the movie by selling it to Amazon for $100 million, it didn't exactly suggest that Sony has much continued interest in the IP - even with the potential to continue the series through a batch of short films.

It feels like Sony knew they had a dud on their hands, especially without Sandler's involvement, and so decided to cut their losses from both the movie and the franchise as a whole. It's dead, Jim.