10 Once-Great Movie Franchises That Just Need To Die

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a fantastic film. It balances lighthearted humour and seriously dark villains so expertly that it's akin to things like Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones. Johnny Depp delivered a career-best performance as the lovable rogue (Captain) Jack Sparrow and the rest of the cast including Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley were also tremendous. Despite low expectations, the film was a huge success and two back-to-back sequels came soon after, Dead Man's Chest in 2006 and At World's End in 2007.

The sequels had a noticeable drop in quality, and despite Bill Nighy's performance as the villainous Davy Jones being a highlight, the dark pirate adventure originally delivered was traded in for 'The Jack Sparrow Show', making Depp's character much more of a comedic focal point. Since then, the franchise has spawned two more sequels, (On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales) both of which were a critical failure.

The quality of each film has sadly decreased with each new instalment and there seems to be a misunderstanding of why the original film was so good in the first place. The Jack Sparrow character has become tired and each adventure seems all too familiar. Most recent rumours suggest the franchise will be getting a reboot, taking it in unexplored directions with brand new characters.