10 Movie Franchises That Started Great And Then Fell Off A Cliff

9. Men In Black

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell no Tales
Sony Pictures

The first installment of the Men in Black franchise was one of the best blockbusters of the 90s, which is no small feat for a decade that was absolutely jam-packed full of classics. The sci-fi buddy comedy still holds up today thanks to a smart script and the phenomenal chemistry between leads Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

That sort of lightning in a bottle is hard to come by, and the wheels started coming off as soon as the follow-up, which was a pale imitation of its predecessor in every way. Men in Black 3 was a marginal improvement, but most of that has to do with Josh Brolin stealing the entire movie thanks to his spot-on impression of a young Jones.

Rebooting without the two main drawing cards of the series was an awful idea on paper, and Men in Black: International turned out to be even worse in execution, so it came to little surprise that it bombed at the box office and was panned by critics in what surely will have been the final nail in the franchise's coffin.

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