12 Films So Bad That They Killed Off Their Franchise

The penultimate lesson on the dangers of counting your chickens before they hatch.

Universal's attempt at getting their own slice of that sweet cinematic universe pie was this ill-advised kick-off. Rather than worrying about making a good film first and foremost, that audiences might actually care about, Universal went all in on the universe concept. To the point that they opened the film with a Marvel-like logo for their proposed Dark Universe.

The film was jam-packed with excessive exposition and world-building that made for an incredibly clunky viewing experience, as if the film was merely a trailer for possible coming attractions.

Perhaps this wouldn't have all seemed so egregious if the main story the film was attempting to tell wasn't complete trash as well. This 'reboot' essentially took the story of the first film, switched the time-period and gender of the Mummy, inserted a whole lot of teases for future films into the middle of it, and called it a day.

It was a tone-deaf film if ever there was one, and audiences reacted to it as such. It was one of the biggest flops of 2017 and resulted in the entirety of its cinematic universe being completely scrapped. The Dark Universe holds the distinct and privileged honor of being the only franchise on this list that began and ended in a single installment, which could not be more fitting.