History StillbornFranchise / Film

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' has had two attempts at branching out into intended film franchises, neither of which went past their first installment. The 1994 LiveActionAdaptation of ''Film/StreetFighter'' ended on a SequelHook, but despite the film recouping its modest budget; it was never made largely due to the death of Raul Julia, who played M. Bison in his final role. The 2009 film, ''Film/StreetFighterTheLegendOfChunLi'' was an outright BoxOfficeBomb that was roundly trashed by critics and fans of the games. There is talk of a potential ContinuityReboot, but nothing has been confirmed past that.

* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'', which adapated the first season of the Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender animated series of the same name]]. While in July 2010 Creator/MNightShyamalan [[http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/m_night_shyamalan_on_the_last.html was convinced the planned sequels would be made]], there had been a noticeable ''lack'' of talk about them from anyone else involved in the years after the infamous film's release. The rights to create a film adaptation found their way to Netflix as part of a larger Viacom deal, with [[Series/AvatarTheLastAirbender2024 a live-action television series]] developed for the streaming service.

** On a broader level, ''[=Fant4stic=]'' was also intended to plant seeds for the creation of a cinematic SharedUniverse that would link Fantastic Four with the Film/XMenFilmSeries. The movie introduced interdimensional travel as part of the team's origin story, and producer Simon Kinberg hinted at the idea in interviews before the movie's release. Fox scheduled a direct sequel for July 2017 and an '''unidentified''' Marvel movie for July 2018, which more than likely would've been the crossover movie. Since ''[=Fant4stic=]'' flopped, Fox has canceled both and shifted back to focusing on X-Men and Deadpool. With the characters now in the hands of Disney, a Fantastic 4 movie has been announced to bring the characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' was intended to be the first installment of an ''X-Men Origins'' film series [[{{Spinoff}} spun off]] from Fox's ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', to be followed by ''X-Men Origins: Magneto''. After disappointing reviews for ''Wolverine'', the ''X-Men Origins'' series was scrapped; some aspects of the ''Magneto'' script ended up being recycled into the much better-received ''Film/XMenFirstClass''. Although the franchise of Wolverine films did continue, the events of ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' were never directly referred to again (and were [[CosmicRetcon retconned]] by ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'') and the next two Wolverine films (''Film/TheWolverine'' and ''Film/{{Logan}}'') were not prequels.

* Author/screenwriter Anthony Horowitz attempted to turn his successful ''Literature/AlexRider'' novels into a blockbuster franchise, the starting point being ''Film/{{Stormbreaker}}''. Unfortunately, the film's poor box office take prevented this from happening. Horowitz has since then admitted that bringing the spy teen to the screen was a [[OldShame "mistake"]]. The series would ultimately end up getting [[Series/AlexRider a TV adaptation]] that fared much better.

* Creator/QuentinTarantino planned a sequel to ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' called ''Django in White Hell''. He realised that Django's morals wouldn't connect with the story, so it became ''Film/TheHatefulEight''.

* ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' was intended to launch a spin-off series of films about Creator/HalleBerry's American secret agent ActionGirl Jinx. Unfortunately, the lukewarm critical and fan reaction led to the Franchise/JamesBond franchise taking a few years off before a full ContinuityReboot with ''Casino Royale'', and no such spin-off occurred. Of course, the fact that Jinx [[TheScrappy was one of the more disliked aspects of the film]] probably didn't help matters either. Berry's other action film of the era (''Film/Catwoman2004'') being an even more catastrophic flop additionally tarnished her as an actor and discredited the whole concept of a female-protagonist action movie for studios until the mid-2010s.