10 Movie Franchises That Will Be Remembered For The Wrong Reasons

9. As The Franchise That Wasn't As Good As The Lord Of The Rings - The Hobbit

You have to wonder whether or not Peter Jackson really believed that The Hobbit would work as three different movies, or whether he was swayed by the promise of an insanely high paycheck. Whatever the reason might be, it doesn't matter much now: Tolkien's classic children's book has been rendered as three monumental movies - more prequels to Jackson's own Lord of the Rings than as genuine adaptations. The problem, of course, is that expectations for The Hobbit were insanely high - especially given the success of Rings. So whilst the films are far from perfect, had we nothing to compare them to, they might have have fared better. As a result of their relation to Jackson's "other" trilogy, though, they'll remain stranded in that awkward place of "Well, they're okay... but nowhere near as good as Rings" forever.