History FranchiseKiller / Film

* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': The series ended with the third installment, ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', which got mixed reception from critics and the audience and was a box office disappointment, though many people would say it's the second installment, ''Prince Caspian'', which killed the franchise. Though it was warmly received by critics, the film actually made even less money than ''Voyage'' and wasn't able to gross twice its budget, a surefire way for a film to be considered a bomb.

* ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': While the previous three Chipmunks films did well at the box office (although they all had a poor critical reception), Twentieth Century Fox, originally planning a December 23rd release for ''[[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunlsTheRoadChip The Road Chip]]'', decided to cash in on counter-programming [[ReleaseDateChange by bumping it up to a]] Dec. 18th date, putting it in direct competition with the highly anticipated ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' from former longtime partner Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, who disassociated themselves from Fox after being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}. ''The Road Chip'' didn't stand a chance -- ''The Force Awakens'' proceeded to [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolish it]] at the box office, raking in a record-breaking $100 million on opening day ''alone'' and over $1 billion worldwide just barely after its first week, making it ''the highest-grossing film of the 2010s''. ''The Road Chip'' crashed and burned at a meager $14,287,159 on the same weekend, limping to $47,539,910 the same week, then $64,050,442 worldwide. On top of that, ''The Force Awakens'' was universally lauded by critics as a true-to-form comeback for the ''Star Wars'' franchise, while ''The Road Chip'' was utterly eviscerated by critics. In all likelihood, the film's resounding failure brought the Chipmunks film series to an end, being the second negative business-changing bust of the year for Fox after [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the attempted Fantastic Four reboot]]. Fortunately, the animated television ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough for the franchise to escape this fate.

* ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': While the previous three Chipmunks films did well at the box office (although they all had a poor critical reception), Twentieth Century Fox, originally planning a December 23rd release for ''The Road Chip'', decided to cash in on counter-programming [[ReleaseDateChange by bumping it up to a]] Dec. 18th date, putting it in direct competition with the highly anticipated ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' from former longtime partner Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, who disassociated themselves from Fox after being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}. ''The Road Chip'' didn't stand a chance -- ''The Force Awakens'' proceeded to [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolish it]] at the box office, raking in a record-breaking $100 million on opening day ''alone'' and over $1 billion worldwide just barely after its first week, making it ''the highest-grossing film of the 2010s''. ''The Road Chip'' crashed and burned at a meager $14,287,159 on the same weekend, limping to $47,539,910 the same week, then $64,050,442 worldwide. On top of that, ''The Force Awakens'' was universally lauded by critics as a true-to-form comeback for the ''Star Wars'' franchise, while ''The Road Chip'' was utterly eviscerated by critics. In all likelihood, the film's resounding failure brought the Chipmunks film series to an end, being the second negative business-changing bust of the year for Fox after [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the attempted Fantastic Four reboot]]. Fortunately, the animated television ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough for the franchise to escape this fate.

** Then Creator/RidleyScott returned to the series to helm an ''Alien'' prequel in the form of ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''. ''Prometheus'' did well enough for Scott to announce it as the first of a prequel trilogy. Even with follow-up ''Film/AlienCovenant'' underperforming at the box office and Fox being purchased by Disney, a third one was still planned; but it seemed to have stalled out by the start of the 2020s decade, with Disney eventually opting to produce the unrelated project ''Alien: Romulus'' instead.
* ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': While the previous three Chipmunks films did well at the box office (although they all had a poor critical reception), Twentieth Century Fox, originally planning a December 23rd release for ''The Road Chip'', decided to cash in on counter-programming [[ReleaseDateChange by bumping it up to a]] Dec. 18th date, putting it in direct competition with the highly anticipated ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' from former longtime partner Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, who disassociated themselves from Fox after being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}. ''The Road Chip'' didn't stand a chance -- ''The Force Awakens'' proceeded to [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolish it]] at the box office, raking in a record-breaking $100 million on opening day ''alone'' and over $1 billion worldwide just barely after its first week, making it ''the highest-grossing film of the 2010s''. ''The Road Chip'' crashed and burned at a meager $14,287,159 on the same weekend, limping to $47,539,910 the same week, then $64,050,442 worldwide. On top of that, ''The Force Awakens'' was universally lauded by critics as a true-to-form comeback for the ''Star Wars'' franchise, while ''The Road Chip'' was utterly eviscerated by critics. In all likelihood, the film's resounding failure brought the Chipmunks film series to an end, being the second negative business-changing bust of the year for Fox after [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the attempted Fantastic Four reboot]]. Fortunately, the animated television ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough tfor the franchise to escape this fate.

* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'': The franchise initially died with the terrible ''Film/BattleForThePlanetOfTheApes'', sequel to the not much better ''Film/ConquestOfThePlanetOfTheApes''. Creator/TimBurton's [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 movie in 2001]] made some money, but the proposed sequel was scrapped. In all fairness, each ''Apes'' sequel was written to be the last in the series, and [[FranchiseZombie further movies were only created because 20th Century Fox demanded them]]. ''Battle'' merely put an end to needlessly prolonging the series, which had already wrapped up its loose ends in the previous films anyway. The franchise was later successfully rebooted with the critically-acclaimed release of ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' in 2011 and its two equally successful sequels (the entire trilogy ironically being a reworking of the two original Franchise Killers!), with another sequel scheduled for release in 2024.

** In a broader sense, ''Nemesis'' is also seen as being part of the decline of the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The TV show, ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' hadn't been too popular when its first season aired, and the box office failure is reportedly why executives decided to limit it to only four seasons. Even some cast members including Patrick Stewart felt that ''Nemesis'' suffered from a fair bit of franchise fatigue. While ''Star Trek'' returned to the silver screen with the 2009 reboot, it did so by returning to the twenty-third-century era depicted in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. On television, ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' (unrelated to the film series) continued that trend, being set a decade before Kirk's Enterprise. So ''Nemesis'' had, it seems, permanently killed off the possibility of any more films and TV shows set during the twenty-fourth-century era depicted in ''The Next Generation'', ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', and ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]''.

* ''Franchise/TheMask'': After the flop of ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', Dark Horse Entertainment (the publisher of the original ''The Mask'' comics) didn't make or release ''[[CreatorBacklash anything]]'' related to ''The Mask'' series until ''Itty Bitty Mask''--a comic book that was released ''nine years'' after ''Son of The Mask''.

** A ContinuityReboot released [[Film/RoboCop2014 in 2014]] received lukewarm reviews and despite recouping its budget globally, it fell roughly ''$80 million'' behind a $130 million budget (with the $30 million of that budget spent on marketing costs, which added to the dismal results) domestically, possibly thanks to opening the week after ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'', which retained its number one spot at the box office while the ''[=RoboCop=]'' reboot grossed an abysmal ''$21.5 million'' on its first weekend. As a result, Sony canceled the planned sequel and the rights went back to MGM. who four years later announced that it would reboot the franchise, making it a direct sequel to the [[Film/RoboCop1987 first film]] and [[CanonDiscontinuity disregarding the sequels and the 2014 film completely]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': The critical failure of ''WesternAnimation/RugratsGoWild'' (a crossover film between ''Rugrats'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys''), in addition to [[CreatorKiller ending the long-lasting relationship between Nick and]] Creator/KlaskyCsupo, actually prevented the making of a fourth ''Rugrats'' film and a third ''Wild Thornberries'' film, and, alongside the failure of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheMovie'', was enough to kill off Nicktoons movies for the rest of the 2000's despite the success of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. However, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'', the sequel to ''The [=SpongeBob SquarePants=] Movie'', was released in 2015 to smashing success, with more film adaptations based on Nicktoons (such as ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'') currently stated to be in development.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' was intended to be part one of a second trilogy, but instead killed off [[CreatorKiller the company that made it]]. The rights went on sale, but no one was that interested and they ended up in the possession of... a hedge fund that had invested in the company. In 2011, it was reported that Creator/AnnapurnaPictures (led by Megan Ellison, daughter of the Oracle founder) had bought the rights (she eventually passed them to her brother David's Skydance Productions in partnership with Creator/{{Paramount}}). Four years later came the fifth movie, a ContinuityReboot called ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger returning to the series. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff While it made some bank overseas,]] it underperformed in the States and was savaged by critics, convincing Skydance and Paramount to scrap plans for another new trilogy. Four years later, they tried again with the sixth movie, ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', which not only featured Schwarzenegger again, but also brought back original Sarah Connor actress Linda Hamilton and series creator Creator/JamesCameron as a storywriter and producer (directing duties, however, went to ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' helmer Creator/TimMiller), and [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored the previous three movies]], serving as a direct sequel to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. But despite being the best-received installment of the series since ''Film/{{Terminator 3|RiseOfTheMachines}}'',[[note]]which like the others, had its planned follow-ups cancelled, but just because its producers fell out with each other; in fact, it stands out among the ''[=T2=]'' follow-ups as the only profitable one[[/note]] if not ''[=T2=]'', audiences seemed to had gotten sick of the series by that point, not helping was the decision to kill John Connor off at the start of the movie, and ''Dark Fate'' proceeded to perform even worse than ''Genisys'', both domestically and internationally this time, making only $261 million worldwide against a combined production and advertising budget of $335 million, and losing about $123 million - one of the biggest bombs of 2019. [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/terminator-dark-fate-puts-franchise-ice-faces-120m-loss-1251926 Future films in the series were immediately shelved after its failure]], and the franchise largely shelved after the rights to the ''Terminator'' property fully reverted to Cameron and franchise co-creator Gale Anne Hurd in 2020; with only a 2024 {{Creator/Netflix}} anime series having been announced for release since the underperformance of ''Dark Fate''.

* ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'': The critical (but not financial, as it was the second-biggest moneymaker in the series next to ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'') failure of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' resulted in Creator/DreamWorksAnimation abandoning their planned fifth film ''Shrek Pleads the Fifth'', and instead making the fourth installment, ''Shrek Goes Fourth'', the final entry of the film franchise. ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'', as the film was renamed, was followed by a [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel Surprisingly Improved Spinoff]], ''WesternAnimation/{{Puss in Boots|2011}}'', which was successful enough to spawn a SequelSeries, but not enough to revive the Shrek franchise proper. After Creator/DreamWorksAnimation was acquired by [=NBCUniversal=], NBCU head Steve Burke expressed interest in [[http://deadline.com/2016/06/steve-burke-nbcuniversal-revive-shrek-sales-dreamworks-animation-deal-1201772640/ reviving the franchise following the completion of the deal]]. Two years later, it was announced that the fifth film had been scrapped and that the franchise would be rebooted via a [[ContinuityReboot re-imagining]] by Creator/IlluminationEntertainment head Chris Meledandri.

* ''ComicBook/SinCity'': The first film is a lauded action flick faithful to its source material, especially considering creator Creator/FrankMiller co-directed the film with Creator/RobertRodriguez. The second movie, ''A Dame to Kill For'', however, was criticized for the nine-year-long release gap between films and its outdated special effects and garnered controversy for its teaser poster [[SexSells featuring a half-nude Eva Green portraying Ava Lord]]. Consequently, bad word-of-mouth resulted in audiences staying away and the film flopping instantly on its opening weekend. This turn of events may put the ''Sin City'' franchise on hold yet again, or perhaps result in a ContinuityReboot.

** The major critical and box office disappointment for ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' almost killed the franchise as a whole, as Paramount, in response to the poor financial returns, at first slashed the budget of the then-in-development sixth film to a degree where making a movie simply wasn't a viable option. The only reasons why [[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry sixth movie]] even eventually managed to get made, was because the new head of Paramount was a friend of Creator/NicholasMeyer who owed him a personal favor, which Meyer immediately called in, with and because the studio wanted a movie to coincide with the [[MilestoneCelebration 25th anniversary]] of the premiere of ''Star Trek''.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIII'' put the movie series on hold for 14 years. [[WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}} The 2007 animated film]] made a decent-but-not-spectacular showing at the box office, but poor reviews, combined with a change in ownership of the whole franchise to Nickelodeon in 2009, have led to the series being [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014 rebooted in live-action once again]]. The 2014 reboot [[CriticalDissonance received worse reviews but brought in the big bucks]], seemingly stabilizing the film side of the Turtles for the foreseeable future... until [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesOutOfTheShadows its sequel]] came out and vastly underperformed at the box office, putting the movie franchise back in the shelf once again. On June 20, 2018, it was announced that the series would be rebooted yet again. Then two years later on June 30, 2020, it was revealed that the reboot would be a CGI animated feature produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film, ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMutantMayhem'', was released on August 2nd, 2023.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' was intended to be part one of a second trilogy, but instead killed off [[CreatorKiller the company that made it]]. The rights went on sale, but no one was that interested and they ended up in the possession of... a hedge fund that had invested in the company. In 2011, it was reported that Creator/AnnapurnaPictures (led by Megan Ellison, daughter of the Oracle founder) had bought the rights (she eventually passed them to her brother David's Skydance Productions in partnership with Creator/{{Paramount}}). Four years later came the fifth movie, a ContinuityReboot called ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger returning to the series. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff While it made some bank overseas,]] it underperformed in the States and was savaged by critics, convincing Skydance and Paramount to scrap plans for another new trilogy. Four years later, they tried again with the sixth movie, ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'', which not only featured Schwarzenegger again, but also brought back original Sarah Connor actress Linda Hamilton and series creator Creator/JamesCameron as a storywriter and producer (directing duties, however, went to ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' helmer Creator/TimMiller), and [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored the previous three movies]], serving as a direct sequel to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. But despite being the best-received installment of the series since ''Film/{{Terminator 3|RiseOfTheMachines}}'',[[note]]which like the others, had its planned follow-ups cancelled, but just because its producers fell out with each other; in fact, it stands out among the ''[=T2=]'' follow-ups as the only profitable one[[/note]] if not ''[=T2=]'', audiences seemed to had gotten sick of the series by that point, not helping was the decision to kill John Connor off at the start of the movie, and ''Dark Fate'' proceeded to perform even worse than ''Genisys'', both domestically and internationally this time, making only $261 million worldwide against a combined production and advertising budget of $335 million, and losing about $123 million - one of the biggest bombs of 2019. [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/terminator-dark-fate-puts-franchise-ice-faces-120m-loss-1251926 Future films in the series were immediately shelved after its failure]], and with the rights to the ''Terminator'' property slated to fully revert to Cameron and franchise co-creator Gale Anne Hurd by November 2020, the franchise is officially done and over unless a deal between the two groups is reached.

** To a lesser extent, ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' killed Disney's traditional animation department and made them move into CGI starting with ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle''. An attempt to move back into traditional animation in the late 2000s/early 2010s with ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Winnie the Pooh|2011}}'' was unsuccessful as the two films were written off by the company as financial disappointments, and led to ten members of the staff in the traditional animation department being handed their walking papers.[[note]]''The Princess and the Frog'' actually did very well, earning $267 million at the box office. However, it was nowhere near the smash success of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' the next year (which earned $591 million), leading Disney to change ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' from a traditionally animated film to a CGI film. That being said, ''Winnie the Pooh'' did bomb at the box office (earning under budget), but it might have been a result of [[ScrewedByTheNetwork its simultaneous release]] alongside [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows the final film]] in the ''Harry Potter'' series, its small target demographic consisting of mostly young children, and [[InvisibleAdvertising a virtually nonexistent advertising campaign]].[[/note]] Years later, Disney would ultimately bring back 2D animation in the 2D segments of ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'' and ''Film/Disenchanted2022''.

** While ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' by no means flopped (it was the highest-grossing Bond film at the time), it was deemed ridiculous by many and received mixed reviews at best. More importantly, however, was that with this film and the preceding ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', the box-office grosses simply did not match the increasing production budgets and marketing costs, and made very little profit for franchise co-owners Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer and Broccoli/Wilson's Danjaq. For MGM, their co-ownership in the James Bond franchise is their single-most important IP asset, and for a studio with an otherwise weak output, Bond must provide large profits for the studio to survive. Soon after, Brosnan was dismissed and the franchise went into hibernation before rebooting with a [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 back-to-basics reboot]] starring Creator/DanielCraig as Bond. The 9/11 attacks also played a part because the writers felt they couldn't justify the franchise's campiness after such a traumatic event, as did the ''Film/AustinPowers'' films by not only [[http://io9.com/the-james-bond-movies-had-to-go-darker-because-mike-my-1667143453 ruthlessly lampooning]] the more outrageous tropes of the Bond movies and made them impossible to take seriously anymore, but also becoming pop-culture sensations that arguably overshadowed the Creator/PierceBrosnan-era Bond films from that same time period; either way, the pendulum swung hard towards more grounded, DarkerAndEdgier depictions of espionage. This also led to the success of ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' in the '00s, whose edgier, more realistic concepts and action were the benchmark for the Daniel Craig movies. (at least until ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' made the producers decide to [[{{Reconstruction}} bring back many of the series' traditional elements]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'': The LEGO film series would experience this with the one-two punch of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoNinjagoMovie'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart''. While the first two LEGO movies (''The LEGO Movie'' and the aforementioned ''The LEGO Batman Movie'') were successful, these two were not (''The LEGO Movie 2'' managed to at least break even, albeit just barely, but it was still regarded as a severe disappointment), and Warner Bros. abandoned plans to turn the LEGO film series into a long-running franchise. One could already see the writing was on the wall, with Warner Animation Group's film slate; which not only had a substantial lack of new LEGO films but also demonstrated WAG focusing more on developing new adaptations of [[Creator/HannaBarbera their existing]] [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes library of]] [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry animated characters]], along with getting the {{Creator/Dr Seuss}} license (from Universal, ironically) as well as development of a film adaptation of Funko Pop toys. However, the final nail in the coffin came later that fall when WB's license to make LEGO movies expired, with the LEGO Group [[https://deadline.com/2020/04/universal-lego-group-construct-five-year-exclusive-film-partnership-to-create-new-movie-franchises-1202916170/ ultimately signing a deal with]] Creator/{{Universal}} Studios instead of renewing the pact. Not helping matters was Warner Bros. additionally signing a deal to distribute films from Locksmith Animation after their deal with [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios Fox]] went south due to Creator/{{Disney}} buying the latter company out.

** Disney chose not to renew their first-look contract with [[Creator/JerryBruckheimer Jerry Bruckheimer Studios]], who had up to that point produced films for Disney (including the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' and ''Film/NationalTreasure'' series) for 20 years, not long after the massive box-office failure of the aforementioned ''The Lone Ranger'' reboot (following a series of other flops from the production company). [[WordOfGod Disney head Alan Horn]], however, claims the partnership break-up had to do more with CreativeDifferences over the films the executives wanted and the films Bruckheimer wanted to produce.

* ''Film/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': The live-action adaptations of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the books]] only went up to the second installment. Both ''The Lightning Thief'' and ''Sea of Monsters'' were poorly received by critics, got middling reception from the audience, and were hated by fans for taking liberties with its source material. The first film was only saved by its [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff international box office gross]], only for the second film to bomb even harder (its first-week domestic gross was half that of the first) for Fox to just call it quits with the franchise. Rick Riordian being displeased with the changes made from the books didn't help either. After Disney acquired Fox, they announced the series would be rebooted for streaming on Creator/DisneyPlus.

* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'': The franchise initially died with the terrible ''Film/BattleForThePlanetOfTheApes'', sequel to the not much better ''Film/ConquestOfThePlanetOfTheApes''. Creator/TimBurton's [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 movie in 2001]] made some money, but the proposed sequel was scrapped. In all fairness, each ''Apes'' sequel was written to be the last in the series, and [[FranchiseZombie further movies were only created because 20th Century Fox demanded them]]. ''Battle'' merely put an end to needlessly prolonging the series, which had already wrapped up its loose ends in the previous films anyway. The franchise was later successfully rebooted with the critically-acclaimed release of ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' in 2011 and its two equally successful sequels -- the entire trilogy ironically being a reworking of the two original Franchise Killers!

* ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'': The series died initially with ''Film/RockyV'', which underperformed the other films and was scathed by critics and audiences. Creator/SylvesterStallone himself disowned the film, expressing disgust toward United Artists [[ExecutiveVeto rejecting the original script]] that called for [[TheHeroDies Rocky's death]][[note]]Though Stallone would later admit that he was happy to rewrite the script, believing that Rocky's death would've betrayed the whole meaning of the series[[/note]]. United Artists then decided to scrap plans for a sixth film and left the series dormant until ''Film/RockyBalboa'' in 2006, which [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored]] ''Film/RockyV''. It served as a good enough GrandFinale for the series, though the studio still decided to continue with [[Film/Creed2015 a spin-off]] about Apollo Creed's son, with Rocky in a supporting role as his trainer. The success of that inspired Stallone himself to co-write [[Film/CreedII a sequel]].

** Then Creator/RidleyScott returned to the series to helm an ''Alien'' prequel in the form of ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''. ''Prometheus'' did well enough for Scott to announce it as the first of a prequel trilogy; even if follow-up ''Film/AlienCovenant'' underperformed at the box office and Fox was purchased by Disney, the third one is still planned.
* ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': While the previous three Chipmunks films did well at the box office (although they all had a poor critical reception), Twentieth Century Fox, originally planning a December 23rd release for ''The Road Chip'', decided to cash in on counter-programming [[ReleaseDateChange by bumping it up to a]] Dec. 18th date, putting it in direct competition with the highly anticipated ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' from former longtime partner Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, who disassociated themselves from Fox after being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}. ''The Road Chip'' didn't stand a chance -- ''The Force Awakens'' proceeded to [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolish it]] at the box office, raking in a record-breaking $100 million on opening day ''alone'' and over $1 billion worldwide just barely after its first week, making it ''the highest-grossing film of the 2010s''. ''The Road Chip'' crashed and burned at a meager $14,287,159 on the same weekend, limping to $47,539,910 the same week, then $64,050,442 worldwide. On top of that, ''The Force Awakens'' was universally lauded by critics as a true-to-form comeback for the ''Star Wars'' franchise, while ''The Road Chip'' was utterly eviscerated by critics. In all likelihood, the film's resounding failure brought the Chipmunks film series to an end, being the second negative business-changing bust of the year for Fox after [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the attempted Fantastic Four reboot]]. Fortunately, ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough to escape this fate.

* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'': The first two movies, ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopI'' and ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'', were the second and third highest-grossing films of 1984 and 1987 respectively. ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'' wasn't released until 1994, when it was treated as a desperate attempt to revive Creator/EddieMurphy's floundering career (Murphy would later disown ''BHCIII'' while appearing on ''Series/InsideTheActorsStudio''). As it turns out, ''BHCIII'' ended up number 34 on the list of 1994's top-grossing films, barely beating Creator/StevenSeagal's ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' and earning $2M less than Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme's ''Film/{{Timecop}}'', leaving the franchise dead in the water. (Murphy admitted that the scripts that he was offered for a potential ''Beverly Hills Cop IV'' never really felt right.) A pilot TV series for Creator/{{CBS}} centered on Axel Foley's son was created, but CBS dropped it. Likewise, the interest surrounding the pilot was able to get a fourth film ([[HereWeGoAgain once again]]) [[http://www.deadline.com/2013/07/paramount-eddie-murphy-revving-on-new-installment-of-beverly-hills-cop/ greenlit with Murphy reprising his iconic role]], though the film appears to have stalled out in DevelopmentHell since 2016.

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': A [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action]] ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' film was released in 2002 (notably the last project that [[Creator/HannaBarbera William Hanna]] ever worked on before his death the previous year). Despite negative reviews, it was a success at the box office and seemed destined to spawn a franchise. Then came 2004's ''Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed'', which received even worse reviews, won a UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward for Worst Remake or Sequel, and under-performed the first film. As a result, Creator/WarnerBrothers cancelled plans for ''Scooby-Doo 3'' and ended the theatrical live-action films; although they did produce two tangentially-related [[Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins prequel]] [[Film/ScoobyDooCurseOfTheLakeMonster films]] at the end of the decade, plus one [[Film/DaphneAndVelma spinoff]]. Eventually, Warner Animation Group opted to do an animated ContinuityReboot in ''WesternAnimation/{{Scoob}}'', which was released in 2020, but even that was destined to fail as it was released during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and was criticized for replacing nearly all of the series' regular voice cast except for Creator/FrankWelker as Scooby himself (despite Frank being replaced as Fred in favor of Creator/ZacEfron).[[note]]The film's theatrical release mainly happened overseas, with video on demand and Creator/HBOMax mainly handling the film in America, and the majority of its profits were earned through this to make it a financial success anyway. While technically being a crossover with other ''Hanna-Barbera'' properties, mainly featuring Blue Falcon and Dynomutt from ''WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder'', Captain Caveman and Dee Dee Skyes from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainCavemanAndTheTeenAngels'', and Dick Dastardly and Muttley from ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' in starring roles, the film had a better score on Rotten Tomatoes (48% versus the 30% and 22% of the previous two films) compared to the prior theatrically released ''Scooby-Doo'' films, plus being beloved by fans as a love letter to ''Hanna-Barbera''.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': The ''Film/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' films, adapted from Creator/JeffKinney's novels, started off with the first film getting mixed reviews but performing well at the box office. The second film, based on the second book in the series, ''Rodrick Rules'', received less favorable reviews and underperformed its predecessor. After that film failed to meet Fox's expectations, it was decided that the third film combine plot elements of the next two books, ''The Last Straw'' and ''Dog Days'', receiving the latter title in post-production. Despite minor improvements from the previous film and better box office gross than the previous installments, fans and critics were still unimpressed, and ''Dog Days'' didn't do well enough to keep Fox from scrapping a fourth film, a fact Creator/ZacharyGordon (who played series protagonist Greg Heffley in the original trilogy) later announced. Of course, the fact the child cast was growing up so fast meant ''Dog Days'' would need to be the last with those actors, as the characters are NotAllowedToGrowUp (to the point Fox rushed the film into production). Kinney tried to pitch the sixth book, ''Cabin Fever'', as an animated television special instead of a movie, but it was scrapped and Fox instead went ahead and started production on an adaptation of the ninth book, ''The Long Haul'', which despite not being a reboot had the entire cast replaced. ''The Long Haul'' received worse reviews and made less money than the previous films, resulting in future movies getting shelved. The books, on the other hand, are still going strong to this day. Following the mass purge of unproduced Fox films due to the poor box office numbers of ''Film/DarkPhoenix'', Disney (who currently owns Fox) announced that the ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' franchise would get yet another reboot, in the form of an animated movie for Creator/DisneyPlus.

** To a lesser extent, ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' killed Disney's traditional animation department and made them move into CGI starting with ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle''. An attempt to move back into traditional animation in the late 2000s/early 2010s with ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Winnie the Pooh|2011}}'' was unsuccessful as the two films were written off by the company as financial disappointments, and led to ten members of the staff in the traditional animation department being handed their walking papers.[[note]]''The Princess and the Frog'' actually did very well, earning $267 million at the box office. However, it was nowhere near the smash success of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' the next year (which earned $591 million), leading Disney to change ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' from a traditionally animated film to a CGI film. That being said, ''Winnie the Pooh'' did bomb at the box office (earning under budget), but it might have been a result of [[ScrewedByTheNetwork its simultaneous release]] alongside [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows the final film]] in the ''Harry Potter'' series, its small target demographic consisting of mostly young children, and [[InvisibleAdvertising a virtually nonexistent advertising campaign]].[[/note]] Years later, Disney would ultimately bring back 2D animation in the 2D segments of ''Film/Disenchanted2022''.

* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'': ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopI'' and ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'' were the second and third highest-grossing films of 1984 and 1987 respectively. ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'' wasn't released until 1994, when it was treated as a desperate attempt to revive Creator/EddieMurphy's floundering career (Murphy would later disown ''BHCIII'' while appearing on ''Series/InsideTheActorsStudio''). As it turns out, ''BHCIII'' ended up number 34 on the list of 1994's top-grossing films, barely beating Creator/StevenSeagal's ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' and earning $2M less than Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme's ''Film/{{Timecop}}'', leaving the franchise dead in the water. (Murphy admitted that the scripts that he was offered for a potential ''Beverly Hills Cop IV'' never really felt right.) A pilot TV series for Creator/{{CBS}} centered on Axel Foley's son was created, but CBS dropped it. Likewise, the interest surrounding the pilot was able to get a fourth film ([[HereWeGoAgain once again]]) [[http://www.deadline.com/2013/07/paramount-eddie-murphy-revving-on-new-installment-of-beverly-hills-cop/ greenlit with Murphy reprising his iconic role]], though the film appears to have stalled out in DevelopmentHell since 2016.
* ''Film/BillyJack'': The independent action film series was never popular with critics but [[CriticalDissonance found an enormous audience among the '70s counterculture]]... at least, until ''Billy Jack Goes to Washington'' in 1977, a two-and-a-half-hour, hippie-era remake of ''Film/MrSmithGoesToWashington'' which was deemed so bad that it couldn't get a wide theatrical release, even though series creator Tom Laughlin had pioneered this release strategy with the prior films. It was also a CreatorKiller for Laughlin, who spent the rest of his life trying to get a fifth ''Billy Jack'' film out of DevelopmentHell. (He came closest in 1985 with the TroubledProduction of ''The Return of Billy Jack'', which was never finished.)
* ''Franchise/{{Blade}}'': ''Film/BladeTrilogy'' died off when ''Film/BladeTrinity'' underperformed and received poor reactions from critics and fans, leading to the film's star Wesley Snipes suing distributor New Line Cinema and director David S. Goyer for cutting him out of the filmmaking process. Snipes also going to federal jail for tax evasion didn't help matters much, either, and ensured that the series will never continue. New Line did attempt to continue on television with the short-lived ''Series/BladeTheSeries'', but the film rights have since reverted back to Marvel, who later announced a ContinuityReboot with Mahershala Ali as the title character.

* ''Film/{{VHS}}'': The franchise of [[FoundFootageFilms found-footage]] horror {{anthology film}}s was derailed for seven years when the third film, 2014's ''Film/VHSViral'', was roasted by critics and fans alike for a nonsensical [[LiteralMetaphor "viral video"]] wraparound that [[ArtifactTitle abandoned the theme of the past two films]] (people discover old VHS tapes containing horrifying scenes), and the actual anthology segments not being much better. After three years of annual installments, it took until 2021 for the next film, ''[[Film/VHS94 V/H/S/94]]'', to get made, and that film was a full ContinuityReboot of the franchise. That said, the "Amateur Night" segment from the first film was later adapted in 2016 by its creators into the standalone, feature-length ''Film/{{Siren|2016}}'', which was fairly well-received.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Joel Schumacher's ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' was so awful (lead actor Creator/GeorgeClooney even ''said'' "I think we killed the franchise") that it convinced Creator/WarnerBros to let the ''Film/BatmanFilmSeries'' fields lie fallow for a while, then let someone else, Creator/ChristopherNolan, take a crack at the series with ''Film/BatmanBegins''. Some Marvel Studios higher-up is on record for saying that ''Batman & Robin'' was the most influential comic book movie, on account of it definitively showing studios that they can't shovel out crap comic adaptations and expect people to see them. Schumacher continued to catch heat for his direction of the film for the rest of his life, with the film following him to his grave in 2020--the punchline everyone thinks of when they remember his (otherwise excellent) career. It seems that, in the case of ''Batman Forever'' and ''B&R'', [[MisBlamed Schumacher was likely just a hired hand]] -- a technician who labored under the studio's close guidance. Basically, they wanted a more marketable Batman, and he became so cynical about the project that he announced each take with, "Okay everyone, remember: we're making [[MerchandiseDriven a toy commercial]]" through a megaphone.
* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'': ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopI'' and ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'' were the second and third highest-grossing films of 1984 and 1987 respectively. ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'' wasn't released until 1994, when it was treated as a desperate attempt to revive Creator/EddieMurphy's floundering career (Murphy would later disown ''BHCIII'' while appearing on ''Series/InsideTheActorsStudio''). As it turns out, ''BHCIII'' ended up number 34 on the list of 1994's top-grossing films, barely beating Creator/StevenSeagal's ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' and earning $2M less than Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme's ''Film/{{Timecop}}'', leaving the franchise dead in the water. (Eddie Murphy admitted that the scripts that he was offered for a potential ''Beverly Hills Cop IV'' never really felt right.) A pilot TV series for Creator/{{CBS}} centered on Axel Foley's son was created, but CBS dropped it. Likewise, the interest surrounding the pilot was able to get a fourth film ([[HereWeGoAgain once again]]) [[http://www.deadline.com/2013/07/paramount-eddie-murphy-revving-on-new-installment-of-beverly-hills-cop/ greenlit with Murphy reprising his iconic role]], though the film appears to have stalled out in DevelopmentHell since 2016.

** To a lesser extent, ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' killed Disney's traditional animation department and made them move into CGI starting with ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle''. An attempt to move back into traditional animation in the late 2000s/early 2010s with ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Winnie the Pooh|2011}}'' was unsuccessful as the two films were written off by the company as financial disappointments, and led to ten members of the staff in the traditional animation department being handed their walking papers.[[note]]''The Princess and the Frog'' actually did very well, earning $267 million at the box office. However, it was nowhere near the smash success of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' the next year (which earned $591 million), leading Disney to change ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' from a traditionally animated film to a CGI film. That being said, ''Winnie the Pooh'' did bomb at the box office (earning under budget), but it might have been a result of [[ScrewedByTheNetwork its simultaneous release alongside]] [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows the final film in the]] ''Harry Potter'' series, its small target demographic consisting of mostly young children, and [[InvisibleAdvertising a virtually nonexistent advertising campaign]].[[/note]] Years later, Disney would ultimately bring back 2D animation in the 2D segments of ''Film/Disenchanted2022''.

* ''ComicBook/GhostRider'': While ''Film/GhostRider2007'' did well on its initial release, it was viewed by the filmmakers (as well as by star Creator/NicolasCage) as being too corny to pass as a real ''Ghost Rider'' film. In the wake of films like ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the studio felt that people were finally willing to accept a more gritty take on the character, and green-lit ''Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance''. The film did poorly at the box office and received terrible reviews, with Cage later admitting that they'd dropped the ball a second time in regards to the film series. A year later, Sony gave the film rights back to Marvel Studios, who stated that they had no immediate plans to feature the character [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse in their films]], though a version of the character appeared in the fourth season of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' and was very well-received.
* ''Film/TheGodfather'': While the first two films are regarded as classics, ''The Godfather: Part III'' is considered much less so. That, and director Creator/FrancisFordCoppola's declining health, effectively killed discussions about a fourth film. Mario Puzo dying prevented the rumours from coming back.

* ''Film/{{Grease}}'': The failure of ''Film/{{Grease 2}}'' prevented further {{Sequelitis}}. There were studio plans of having at least three more sequels and a TV series, but they were instantly scrapped after ''Grease 2'' bombed. Despite this, a prequel television show was released in 2023 for the Paramount+ streaming service, only to be cancelled after its first and only season, putting the franchise back in the grave.

** The final film in the Showa Era of the ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' series, ''Film/GameraSuperMonster'' is widely considered one of the worst of the franchise, having some truly terrible acting and special effects, nearly half of it being StockFootage from previous movies (including almost all the scenes of Gamera), and an unlikeable main character. It was made when Daiei was still recovering from bankruptcy, and they attempted to make a Gamera film as cheaply as possible to bring in a little more money, but it unsurprisingly disappointed at the box office and killed the franchise for nearly fifteen years (the writers were even so disappointed by the film's quality during production that they deliberately killed Gamera at the end). The revival trilogy that came after was much more successful and considered some of the [[Film/GameraGuardianOfTheUniverse best]] [[Film/Gamera2AdventOfLegion kaiju]] [[Film/Gamera3AwakeningOfIrys films]] ever made.

* ''Film/{{Grease}}'': The failure of ''Film/{{Grease 2}}'' prevented further {{Sequelitis}}. There were studio plans of having at least three more sequels and a TV series, but they were instantly scrapped after ''Grease 2'' bombed. Despite this, a prequel televsion show was released in 2023 for the Paramount+ streaming service, only to be cancelled after its first and only season, putting the franchise back in the grave.

* ''Film/{{Grease}}'': The failure of ''Film/{{Grease 2}}'' prevented further {{Sequelitis}}. There were studio plans of having at least three more sequels and a TV series, but they were instantly scrapped after ''Grease 2'' bombed.