Jumping The Shark: 9 Franchise Derailing Films

1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

What else but 1999's Phantom Menace could top our list? The film that shattered the hopes and dreams of an entire generation of Star Wars fans remains the high-watermark of Shark Jumping. If Merriam-Websters ever decides to enter the phrase "Shark Jumping" into its lexicon a picture of Jar Jar Binks should be included right beside Fonzie's smiling visage. You could write a novel-length catalogue of everything that went wrong with picture starting with Lucas' decision to make the plot about trade disputes, or, his depiction of Jar Jar Binks as a racist caricature (a supremely annoying one at that), or, the reduction of the force from a ubiquitous metaphysical power to microscopic organisms called "midi-chlorians". The Star Wars franchise never recovered from this fiasco and from here it was straight downhill to the horrifying low of Episode 2: Attack of the Clones.

There you have it, my list of films that destroyed the credibility of their franchises and thoroughly jumped the shark. This list could easily be a hundred films long so sound-off in the comments and let me know what other films you feel ruined your favorite franchises.