20 Movie Franchises That Carried On For Way Too Long

5. Pirates Of The Caribbean

The Movies: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Dead Man's Chest (2006), At World's End (2007), On Stranger Tides (2011), Dead Men Tell No Tales (2016) The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was a breath of fresh air for blockbuster cinema when it hit theaters in 2003. Unfortunately since then, the franchise has suffered from the 'bigger must mean better' mantra, with each entry being more disappointing than the last. Nonetheless, the series is critic-proof; the first franchise in history to have two movies that grossed over $1bn, with all four movies combining for a mammoth $3.73bn at the box office. Following the surprising success of Curse of the Black Pearl, the two sequels were shot back-to-back, intended to be viewed as two parts of the same story. As one of the most anticipated films of all time, Dead Man's Chest smashed box office records around the world on its way to becoming only the third billion-dollar movie in history. An enjoyable second chapter, there was still a sense that it was a mere placeholder to the trilogy's conclusion. At World's End was a disappointing end to the trilogy, with an overly-complicated plot and multiple narrative threads that left many characters short-changed, building to an climax that delivered massive CGI overload. After a four-year hiatus, the franchise returned to screens with On Stranger Tides.Jettisoning original director Gore Verbinski and almost all of the original cast, what was meant to mark a new beginning for the series actually turned out to be the worst movie yet. However, the addition of 3D saw On Stranger Tides rebound at the box office and become the second movie in the franchise to gross over $1bn worldwide. Unsurprisingly, a fifth film has been penciled in for summer 2016. Titled Dead Men Tell No Tales, recent rumors have indicated the basic plot could well be as complicated as we've come to expect from the franchise. However, much like Michael Bay's Transformers movies, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will be massive hits no matter the quality of the final product.