10 Movie Franchises That Should Die With Their Stars
9. The Godfather - Al Pacino
The third had lackluster reviews, little awards success, and poor box office results (in comparison to the first two), The Godfather Trilogy is still regarded as one of the greatest sagas of all time. Though many attribute Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone to be the face of the franchise, the trilogy truly belongs to Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone.
Pacino starred in all three films (Pacino was nominated for best supporting actor to Brando’s best actor in 1973, something Pacino protested as he had significantly more screen-time than Brando) and held the arc for all three movies. Surprisingly, a fourth film in the franchise was actually slated. It was going to have a parallel timeline (i.e. The Godfather: Part II) showing the early days of Don and Sonny Corleone in the 1930’s alongside Vincent’s affairs in the 1980’s; Pacino wasn’t attached. Director Francis Ford Coppola scrapped the idea after of source novelist Mario Puzo’s death in 1999.
A Godfather film without Pacino would have been near blasphemes and we all have Coppola to thank for saving the franchise. Don’t sigh too loudly, though, Paramount still holds the rights to continue the saga, if they dare.