10 Tired Film Franchises That Desperately Need A Break

Truly one of the most unique long-running franchises on this list, in that it was started by a cheap rip-off of Point Break, Fast & the Furious has morphed into its own cultural behemoth.

Following two notably naff sequels, the original cast reunited for a fourth, making oodles of money. Its follow-up was 2011's Fast Five, and the world has never quite been the same. The fifth instalment set up a formula that each subsequent film has followed to the T, with each one moving the franchise further away from its street-racing routes, and deeper into the world of what the writers must think is 'espionage'.

While to many, following the tragic death of Paul Walker, the seventh film seemed like a fitting end, the franchise just doesn't seem to know how to take its foot off the gas. An eighth film was released this past year, and continued to make way more money than anyone could imagine. But it also housed such brilliant plot points as Dom's secret baby-mama and hacker-terrorism. The franchise has been running on fumes, creatively, ever since 2011, and has now taken to stooping so low as to crib stories from daytime soaps.

At least two more films are on the way, so don't expect this to run out of gas completely any time soon.