History FranchiseKiller / Film

* The failure of ''Film/{{Supergirl}}'' not only prevented Supergirl from becoming a film franchise like Superman, but was also partly responsible for the character getting killed off in the comics as well.

* The failure of ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet 2'' at the box office pretty much put the kibosh on a potential ''Happy Feet'' film series. To this day even George Miller isn't sure how he's going to pull off a third film. Crucial co-star Creator/RobinWilliams [[AuthorExistenceFailure committing suicide]] several years later made the outcome of a third film even more uncertain.

* ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'' killed off the live-action Creator/DrSeuss movie franchise that had started with ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'', not so much because of its box-office receipts (which were not as bad as the scathing critical reviews, though still remarkably low) but because Theodore Geisel's widow was disgusted enough by it to deny any further live-action adaptations. Plans were laid out for a sequel but unfortunately never materialized as a direct result of the sanction from Mrs. Geisel. Later Dr. Seuss movies have been made purely with CGI.

* The critical and financial failure of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'s 1st Movie'' led to the abandonment of whatever hopes Disney had for anymore films based on the ''Doug'' series; the film had been crafted as a direct response to the success of ''The Rugrats Movie'' by Nickelodeon, with the latter performing much better. For most, it felt more like an extended episode better suited for a Direct-to-DVD release.

** There was once a show at Tokyo Disneyland called "Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour" that focused on all of the Disney villains up to the Horned King. Similar to the restaurant example above, the show lasted long after Disney had given up on the franchise, running for over twenty years after the film was released.

* Diminishing home market sales and surprisingly disappointing merchandise sales (especially due to Frozen's popularity) were the reasons given by execs to discontinue [[WaltDisneyAnimationUnits DisneyToon Studios]]' direct-to-video ''DisneyFairies'' franchise, with the 2015 film ''Legend of the [=NeverBeast=]'' marking the end of that series.
* The critical and financial failure of ''Doug's 1st Movie'' led to the abandonment of whatever hopes Disney had for anymore films based on the ''Doug'' series; the film had been crafted as a direct response to the success of ''The Rugrats Movie'' by Nickelodeon, with the latter performing much better. For most, it felt more like an extended episode better suited for a Direct-to-DVD release.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' had its film series from 20th Century Fox start off with the first film having mixed reviews but did well at the box office. The second film, based off ''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 didn't do well enough to keep Fox from scrapping a fourth film, a fact Zachary Gordon (who played Greg Heffley in the movies) 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 (to the point Fox rushed the film into production). Series author Jeff Kinney has stated his interest in making the sixth book, ''Cabin Fever'', an animated television adaptation instead of a movie, but that appears to be canceled as nothing else was revealed since that statement.

** In 2006, the original story was given a major, modernized retooling in the form of a ContinuityReboot, with SteveMartin filling in for Sellers for his Clouseau character and the film [[CanonDiscontinuity dismissing]] the events of ''Trail of...'', ''Curse of...'' and ''Son of...''. The film was ravaged by critics, but performed well at the box office to become a CultClassic, prompting the studio to order up a sequel for release in 2009. That sequel underperformed the first film and was ravaged even further by critics, thus putting plans for a third, trilogy-making film to a screeching halt. Odds are, it seems unlikely that another ''Pink Panther'' film will see the light of day again, and with Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer's bankruptcy the following year, its future remains even more uncertain.

* While the first two films in ''Film/TheGodfather'' franchises 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. ([[AuthorExistenceFailure Mario Puzo dying]] prevented the rumours from coming back.)

* The first movie based on the ''Film/MortalKombat'' franchise was a box office success and regarded as a decent action flick, surpassing the [[VideoGameMoviesSuck low standards of video-game-to-movie-adaptations]]. The second movie, ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', is a slopfest of one-shot character cameos, terrible dialogue, and (for the series) an inexplicable plot. After several rumors of a possible sequel/reboot by New Line were killed by Creator/WarnerBros buying the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' franchise and all rights therein from the ashes of Creator/MidwayGames, WB opted for the cheaper idea of a WebOriginal series, ''WebVideo/MortalKombatLegacy'', instead of a movie.

* 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''.

* ''[[Film/TheExpendables The Expendables 3]]'', in contrast to the last two films met with an underwhelming reaction from fans largely put off by the [[{{Bowdlerize}} PG-13]] rating and mostly failed to make its money back. It's telling that afterwards, Creator/SylvesterStallone decided to return to the ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' series, which he had abandoned specifically to make ''The Expendables''.

* Diminishing home market sales and surprisingly disappointing merchandise sales were the reasons given by execs to discontinue [[WaltDisneyAnimationUnits DisneyToon Studios]]' direct-to-video ''DisneyFairies'' franchise, with the 2015 film ''Legend of the [=NeverBeast=]'' marking the end of that series.

* ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' was a brief Franchise Killer for the ''X-Men'' movies, since it was intended to take the franchise in a different direction following the original trilogy (as the title indicates, the plan was for a series of OriginStory movies for key characters of the franchise; ''X-Men Origins: SelfDemonstrating/{{Magneto}}'' would have been the next installment), but the terrible reaction to it killed these plans and a different (and much more successful) direction was chosen in the semi-reboot ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' (which itself was partially an adaptation of the proposed Magneto-led movie). It also killed off a potential ''SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}'' film, until a 5-minute test reel with a CGI Deadpool (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) was leaked online in September 2014 to a ''very'' positive response, leading Fox to put the movie back in development for a planned February 2016 release.

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** Among fans and critics, the Bourne trilogy of films killed old-style Bond stone dead. With such edgier, more realistic concepts and action, nobody wanted to see secret agent films in that vein any more. Casino Royale and the subsequent Daniel Craig films were created as a direct response to this change in fan taste, with the old Bond tropes mostly gone, replaced with grittier, more genuinely violent action. These Bond films don't reach the heights of Bourne, but have something genuine to offer in their own right, which was not the case after Die Another Day.

* ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'' itself almost became the franchise killer of the ''entire'' Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. It cost the studio so much money they could only barely manage to get back up. Understandably, it took ''Cauldron'' till 1998 to get released on home video, though the success of ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' was also to blame for that (Disney did intend to release ''Cauldron'' on video back in 1989).

* A [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action]] ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' film was released in 2002. Despite negative reviews, it was a success at the box office and seemed destined to spawn a franchise. Then came ''Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed'', which received even worse reviews, won a Razzie for Worst Remake of Sequel, and under-performed the first film. As a result, Creator/WarnerBrothers canceled plans for ''Scooby-Doo 3'' and opted to do an animated ContinuityReboot, with a 2018 release date.

* Another Jay Ward-inspired film would not be in the works until [[Creator/DreamWorksAnimation DreamWorks Animation]] acquired Classic Media (co-owner of Jay Ward's Bullwinkle Studios) and with it, the film license. The ''Mr. Peabody and Sherman'' film project was rebooted as a CGI film and released to 2014, which flopped domestically despite positive reviews, a strong advertising campaign and favorable foreign gross (this may have also been responsible for a CG ''RockyAndBullwinkle'' short DWA had made to release with the movie getting shelved until the Blu-ray release). That didn't stop [=DreamWorks=] from ordering a proposed ''Mr. Peabody and Sherman'' TV series reboot, however.

** The plot contained a SequelHook, but its financial and critical failure ended any chance the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' crew had of getting another film. Then again, this section of the franchise may have been killed shortly before the release of this film because Brent Spiner (who played the android Data) refused to participate further because he was visibly aging and straining [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief suspension of disbelief]] (though in an alternate future of the TV series' finale, Data had cosmetically altered himself to simulate aging anyway). You can't do ''TNG'' without Data, and Paramount's marketing department knew it, hence the tagline:

** Nemesis was flagged way in advance as the final Next Generation adventure. It's a moot point whether its (unfair) reception ended any chance of sequels, because that part of the Star Trek story was already slated to end. Any further films would've been conceptual reboots and that's exactly what happened, with controversial results.

** Despite the success of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'', the failure of ''WesternAnimation/RugratsGoWild'' and the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' movie was enough to kill off Nicktoon movies for the rest of the 2000s. [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater A sequel]] to ''The [=SpongeBob SquarePants=] Movie'' was released in 2015, with more film adaptations based on Nicktoons (such as ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' and ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'') in development.

* The live action movie adaption of ''{{The Last Airbender}}'' directed by M. Night Shyamalan, based on the popular ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' TV series was recieved with negative reviews from both movie critics and fans alike. The movie won and was nonimated many Raspberry awards for the worst movie ever. M. Night Shyamalan had plans to make The Last Airbender 2 sequel, But it was cancelled due to negative reviews. Despite this Michael Dante DiMartino was able to make ''The Legend of Korra'' TV series.

* The ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' 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 [[spoiler:called for Rocky's death]]. United Artists then decided to scrap plans for a sixth film and left the series dormant until ''Film/RockyBalboa'' in 2006, which [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored]] ''Rocky V''. Despite the positive critical and box office reception of that film, Stallone decided not to continue the franchise, and instead went on to make ''Film/RamboIV'' and ''Film/TheExpendables''.

** Serenity mainly existed as a love letter to the fans of ''Firefly'', who had supported the series and protested its cruel axing without even giving it a full first season. It gave the fans a new adventure for the characters while also closing the book on that universe onscreen. The creator Joss Whedon had more films in the works, but too few people saw the film to justify sequels. Serenity is a great example of fans coming together to force something they want onto their screens, regardless of executives and box office receipts.

* ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''' plot contained a SequelHook, but its financial and critical failure ended any chance the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' crew had of getting another film. Then again, this section of the franchise may have been killed shortly before the release of this film because Brent Spiner (who played the android Data) refused to participate further because he was visibly aging and straining [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief suspension of disbelief]] (though in an alternate future of the TV series' finale, Data had cosmetically altered himself to simulate aging anyway). You can't do ''TNG'' without Data, and Paramount's marketing department knew it, hence the tagline:

** 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 at best mixed reviews. 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 movie]] starring Creator/DanielCraig as Bond. WordOfGod mentions that the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks also played a part, because the writers felt they couldn't justify the franchise's campiness after such a traumatic event.
*** [[http://io9.com/the-james-bond-movies-had-to-go-darker-because-mike-my-1667143453 According to]] Creator/DanielCraig, the ''Film/AustinPowers'' films were responsible for the ''Film/JamesBond'' series' DarkerAndEdgier reboot in the '00s. That series ruthlessly lampooned the more outrageous tropes of the Bond movies and made them impossible to take seriously anymore, while also becoming pop culture sensations that arguably overshadowed the Creator/PierceBrosnan-era Bond films from that same time period. This also led to the success of ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' in the '00s.
**** Among fans and critics, the Bourne trilogy of films killed old-style Bond stone dead. With such edgier, more realistic concepts and action, nobody wanted to see secret agent films in that vein any more. Casino Royale and the subsequent Daniel Craig films were created as a direct response to this change in fan taste, with the old Bond tropes mostly gone, replaced with grittier, more genuinely violent action. These Bond films don't reach the heights of Bourne, but have something genuine to offer in their own right, which was not the case after Die Another Day.

* Though there was another film after it, ''Film/FinalDestination4'' was the film that set the ''Franchise/FinalDestination'' series on the road to the point of no return.[[note]]Or, if you prefer, [[{{Pun}} its final destination]].[[/note]] It was the biggest hit in the franchise since the first, largely thanks to the addition of [[ThreeDMovie 3-D]], but it was so poorly received by critics and fans alike that people stayed away in droves from ''Film/FinalDestination5'', leading to that film's failure driving the final nails into the series' coffin (despite [[AcclaimedFlop generally being considered]] [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel a much better movie]]).
* The ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' series had already taken a hit with the seventh installment, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIITheNewBlood The New Blood]]'' in 1988, which had been [[{{Bowdlerise}} heavily edited to avoid an X rating]]. This led to one of the most bloodless ''Friday'' films yet, and while it marks the beginning of fan favorite Creator/KaneHodder's turn as Jason Voorhees, it's also viewed as the beginning of the series' DorkAge. However, the eighth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan Jason Takes Manhattan]]'' in '89, was the breaking point. Fans at the time viewed it as the series' nadir, and its failure led Creator/{{Paramount}}, which had always been ashamed of the series' success, to sell the rights to [[Film/FridayThe13th1980 the first film]]'s director Sean S. Cunningham. He in turn sold the rights to Creator/NewLineCinema, which had been hoping to get a {{crossover}} with ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' off the ground.\\

* The failure of the ''Film/{{Supergirl}}'' film not only prevented Supergirl from becoming a film franchise like Superman, but was also partly responsible for the character getting killed off in the comics as well.

* Diminishing home market sales and surprisingly disappointing merchandise sales were the reasons given by execs to discontinue [[WaltDisneyAnimationUnits DisneyToon Studios]]' direct-to-video ''DisneyFairies'' franchise, with the 2015 film ''Legend of the [=NeverBeast=]'' slated to be the final film of that series.

** To a lesser extent, ''Disney/HomeOnTheRange'' killed Disney's traditional animation department and made them move into CGI. An attempt to move back into traditional animation in the late 2000s/early 2010s with ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'' was unsuccessful as the two films (especially the latter) 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 ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' the next year (which earned $591 million), leading Disney to change ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' from a traditionally animated film to a CG 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, and [[InvisibleAdvertising a virtually nonexistent advertising campaign]].[[/note]]

** To a lesser extent, ''Disney/HomeOnTheRange'' killed Disney's traditional animation department and made them move into CGI. An attempt to move back into traditional animation in the late 2000s/early 2010s with ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'' was unsuccessful as the two films (especially the latter) 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 ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' the next year (which earned $591 million), leading Disney to change ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' from a traditionally animated film to a CG 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 the final ''Harry Potter'' film]], and [[InvisibleAdvertising a virtually nonexistent advertising campaign]].[[/note]]

** To a lesser extent, ''Disney/HomeOnTheRange'' killed Disney's traditional animation department and made them move into CGI. An attempt to move back into traditional animation in the late 2000s/early 2010s with ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'' was unsuccessful as the two films (especially the latter) 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 ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' the next year (which earned $591 million), leading Disney to change ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' from a traditionally animated film to a CG film. That being said, Winnie the Pooh ''did'' bomb at the box office (earning under budget), but it might have been a result of its simultaneous release alongside the final ''Harry Potter'' film, and a virtually nonexistent advertising campaign.[[/note]]

* ''Film/DormDaze'' was released in a limited amount of theaters and did O.K. enough to get a Direct-to-DVD sequel in 2006. Then, for some reason, Dorm Daze 3 or ''Film/{{Transylmania}}'' was actually released nationwide in 2009 and only grossed $397,000 dollars on a $10 million dollar budget and a $15 million dollar marketing budget. Another movie in the franchise hasn't been produced since.

** However, ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'' was adapted from a storyline that had the Flash as its central protagonist and was just as well-received as any Batman or Superman animated film. The film ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueThroneofAtlantis'' also focused heavily on Aquaman, so the studios are most likely slowly regaining confidence in their supporting titles.

** Despite the success of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'', the failure of ''WesternAnimation/RugratsGoWild'' and the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' movie was enough to kill off Nicktoon movies for the rest of the 2000s. [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater A sequel]] to ''The Spongebob Squarepants Movie'' was released in 2015, with more film adaptations based on Nicktoons (such as ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra'' and ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'') in development.
* The critical (but not financial, as it was the second-biggest moneymaker in the series) failure of ''{{WesternAnimation/Shrek}} the Third'' resulted in Creator/{{Dreamworks}} 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. ''Shrek Forever After'', as the film was renamed, was followed by a [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel Surprisingly Improved Spinoff]], ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', which was successful enough to spawn a sequel but not enough to revive the Shrek franchise proper. Despite this, Jeffrey Katzenberg still hopes [[http://www.movieweb.com/news/shrek-5-will-happen-says-dreamworks-animation-ceo that a fifth movie will happen.]]

* The ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' movie wasn't ''quite'' bad enough to kill ''Daredevil 2''. ''Film/{{Elektra}},'' on the other hand, was. That film and Creator/HalleBerry's ''Film/{{Catwoman}}'' squashed rumors of a [[GenreKiller new spate of super-heroine movies]], which was also not helped by a sudden glut of similarly themed ActionGirl movies coming out at the same time as well, such as ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'' and ''Film/AeonFlux'', which were also lambasted by critics for being poor-to-mediocre in most aspects.
** Fox did at one point have plans to completely reboot the Daredevil/Elektra franchise in the early 2010s, but ended up letting the film rights lapse back to Disney/Marvel in order to focus more on their ''Fantastic Four'' reboot. Marvel has since released [[Series/{{Daredevil 2015}} a made-for-Netflix show]] starring the character, but obviously independent of the earlier films and being part of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Thankfully, [[WinBackTheCrowd said Netflix show completely redeemed the character in the public eye]].
* The ''Film/FantasticFour'' films from 20th Century Fox never enjoyed critical or fan reception, but the under-performance of the ''Rise of the Silver Surfer'' sequel caused Fox to cancel plans for the ''Comic/SilverSurfer'' spinoff movie in favor of a ContinuityReboot, which was green-lit in 2013.
** Said reboot [[Film/FantasticFour2015 was released in 2015]] after a lengthy TroubledProduction. It was universally trashed across the board by fans and critics[[note]]To put this into perspective, even ''Marvel themselves'' trashed the movie, refusing to promote it in any way, and ''Fantastic Four'' co-creator Creator/StanLee infamously refused to make a cameo in the movie after hearing how troubled the movie production was[[/note]], receiving a Website/RottenTomatoes score of ''8%'', making it the lowest rated superhero movie since ''Film/{{Catwoman}}''. Its subsequent box office failure, combined with ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' (see below for more on that) and Sony's subsequent deal with Marvel Studios, may have all but ensured that all future films based on a Marvel superhero sans the ''X-Men'' and ''Deadpool'' will be produced by Disney[[note]]though Spider-Man's solo films will still be distributed by Sony[[/note]]. [[{{Determinator}} Not that it's stopped Fox from trying to hold on to the Fantastic Four for as long as it possibly can, though.]]