12 Films So Bad That They Killed Off Their Franchise

Bat-nipples and ice puns and poorly thought out close-ups, oh my!

Yet another case of a DC franchise who's famed director was booted unceremoniously, only to be replaced by a director whose first attempt was affable enough, but whose follow-up is a true anomaly.

After Burton made two excellent films for DC with Batman and Batman Returns, Schumacher was brought on board to make a more toy-friendly instalment. Batman Forever was received fairly well(despite the fact that it's awful) but Schumacher's second round in the ring allowed him to show his true colours.

Batman & Robin is a well-intentioned mess of a film. In attempting to create a film that harkened back to the '60s TV show, Schumacher took Burton's established aesthetic and ran in the complete opposite direction. It wants to be taken as a gravely serious blockbuster film with genuine stakes, but also be a campy throwback. The result is a film so conflicted that it never had a chance at satisfying either side of its bipolar complex.

Whereas all the previous Bat-films had been massive hits for DC and Warner Bros., Batman & Robin landed with a resounding thud at the box office. It had taken the franchise to such an extreme and volatile end of the spectrum that fans were no longer on board.