10 Upcoming Blockbuster Sequels That Will Make Or Break Their Franchise

9. Superman Vs. Batman: Dawn Of Justice

The next film in the Superman franchise has the Man Of Steel sharing the billing with the Dark Knight, and has Warner Brothers making a pretty big gamble once again. Man Of Steel itself was a gamble: a reboot for a franchise already rebooted once in recent memory (even if Superman Returns wasn't officially a reboot, it might as well have been) with a relatively unknown actor wearing the tights, and a much darker tone. On top of that, the director at the helm (Zack Snyder) had a questionable track record full of peaks and valleys, even if most of his films were visually stunning. The gamble paid off. Man Of Steel worked for the most part. It had its flaws (some of the action screamed "video game"), but was a much stronger film, and banked about $250 million more in worldwide gross than Superman Returns. The safe bet from here for Warner Brothers would have been to call out "let it ride" and bank on the success of a straight sequel to Man Of Steel. Instead, they're upping the ante by making this the debut of a new Batman actor (Ben Affleck) and the lead-in to a full blown Justice League movie. It's definitely a make or break moment: again, the film will be successful, but if it doesn't go over well with fans who dish out the dollars to see it, what becomes of the Justice League movie? What becomes of the Batman franchise if Affleck doesn't perform? There's a ton riding on this. DC wants to parallel the success of Marvel, and is looking to launch other characters like Aquaman into solo films, but if Dawn of Justice stumbles out of the gate, all of it is in jeopardy.