20 Great Movie Franchises That Became Unwatchable

They say that you can have too much of a good thing, and that rings true when it comes to certain film franchises. For a multitude of different reasons, once a series hits top form, it can be damn hard to keep it up.

This is particularly true of those that find success straight away. The bar is set high from the get-go, and while some franchises have gradually fallen away from that bar, others have been more drastic. Some have gone from good to bad, while others have gone from sensational to the point of embarrassing.

Part of this comes from the insatiable desire in Hollywood to squeeze every last penny from every success story. If the latest film was good, there's more to be had, and so often studios won't stop beating the horse until they know it's dead. Others, more simply, get boring over time, the concept runs out of steam, or a creative change proves fatal.

The are iconic movies on this list, decades old that couldn't be further from what is being put out now, relatively new franchises that barely lasted two outings, and altogether 20 disappointments from superheroes, space operas, slashers, and more.

When Kingsman: The Secret Service released in 2014, it was a hugely enjoyable surprise success. Matthew Vaughn brought to life a bombastic espionage flick that didn’t take itself too seriously, featured an all-time classic action scene, and launched Taron Egerton’s career.

However, since 2014, the franchise has taken something of a nosedive, starting with the sequel, The Golden Circle. That film leaned too far into the over-the-top nature of the original to almost being a parody of itself, losing much of the charm from three years earlier.

The spin-off, The King’s Man, wasn’t able to bring much of anything to the table either, in spite of having an absolutely stellar cast. After a surprisingly forgettable two hours, the only thing anyone truly remembers it for is the post-credit scene that introduced Adolf Hitler (David Kross) like he was Thanos.

As far as the franchise goes, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was the end, but no. A post-credit scene in Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle connected the 2024 box office flop to the Kingsman films, something that will likely never ever come to fruition thanks to the poor response to both Argylle and the post-Secret Service Kingsman franchise.