10 Overly-Optimistic Attempts To Launch A Movie Franchise
You've got a release date for your sequel? Yeah, about that...
There's no set formula for creating a successful franchise. While a popular brand, recognizable characters or big-name stars can often provide an advantage, every expensive attempt that the studios make to launch a lucrative multi-film series is still a gamble. It is an unpredictable game, but when it works it really works.
15 years ago, the notion of people being excited about a ninth Fast and Furious would have been laughable. We're currently on our third Spider-Man reboot in ten years, and the Mission: Impossible franchise is older than Tom Holland. We're getting five Harry Potter spinoffs from a 128 page textbook JK Rowling wrote for charity. Arnold Schwarzenegger is almost 70 and still wants to play the Terminator.
Statements like these make you realize just how crazy the franchise business can be, and also how they can be worth billions of dollars under the right circumstances. However, not every big-budget movie with 'franchise potential' gets to be a success, and the elephant graveyard of Hollywood is littered with those that tried and failed.
10. Battle: Los Angeles
Had Battle: Los Angeles made the most of its central concept, it could have been a unique anthology franchise. Imagine Battle: New York, Battle: Tokyo or Battle: London, all standalone features with a cast and crew relevant to the geography, connected only the premise of alien invasion. Despite a decent box office return, poor critical reaction and budget concerns dashed any hopes of a franchise.
Instead of trying any of the interesting things that can be done with the 'boots on the ground war film with aliens' concept, Battle: LA dives headlong into as many cliches as it can find and ends up as entirely formulaic, like Michael Bay with a hangover shooting Transformers on a GoPro.
Had the movie been a qualified success, then sequels could have taken in battles from across the globe, keeping the concept fresh and giving each installment a unique feel. Instead, they took the easy way out and went for the generic 'hoorah' shoot-em-up instead.