History StillbornFranchise / Film

* ''Flamingos Forever'' was intended to be the sequel to 1972's ''Film/PinkFlamingos''. It was also intended to be set 15 years after the events of the first movie. While Creator/{{Divine|Actor}} was nervous about the stunts that the script required (i.e. eating pie underwater and having to carry Edie), he also wanted to focus his career on more serious male roles. Plus, Edith Massey's death in 1984 was "the first nail in the coffin" for the project as there was no one else in the world that would replace Edie. Divine would also die in 1988 from a heart attack, therefore ending the project. However, some elements from the project would be incorporated into future Creator/JohnWaters projects. For example, the names of Wilbur, Inez, and Tracy would be Main/{{Transplant}}ed into his 1988 film ''Film/{{Hairspray}}''. The "Hokey Pokey" scene would be featured in the 2004 film ''A Dirty Shame''.

* ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' was meant to launch a ''Transformers'' cinematic universe, featuring [[spoiler:the reveal of Quintessa, the Witwiccans' castle hinting at Transformer involvement all throughout human history, and the revelation that the Earth was [[GeniusLoci Unicron]] all along]]. Poor critical reception and even poorer box office performance ensured that these sequels would never come to be, though ''{{Film/Bumblebee}}'' would launch a rebooted film series with Michael Bay only serving as a producer.

* ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' was meant to launch a ''Transformers'' cinematic universe, featuring [[spoiler:the reveal of Quintessa, the Witwiccans' manor hinting at Transformer involvement all throughout human history, and the revelation that the Earth was [[GeniusLoci Unicron]] all along]]. Poor critical reception and even poorer box office performance ensured that these sequels would never come to be, though ''{{Film/Bumblebee}}'' would launch a rebooted film series with Michael Bay only serving as a producer.

* ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' was meant to launch a ''Transformers'' cinematic universe, featuring [[spoiler:the reveal of Quintessa, the Witwiccans' manor hinting at Transformer involvement all throughout human history, and the revelation that the Earth was Unicron all along]]. Poor critical reception and even poorer box office performance ensured that these sequels would never come to be, though ''{{Film/Bumblebee}}'' would launch a rebooted film series with Michael Bay only serving as a producer.

* ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' was meant to launch a ''Transformers'' cinematic universe, featuring the reveal of Quintessa, the Witwiccans' manor hinting at Transformer involvement all throughout human history, and the revelation that the Earth was Unicron all along. Poor reception and even poorer box office performance ensured that these sequels would never come to be, though ''{{Film/Bumblebee}}'' would launch a rebooted film series with Michael Bay only serving as a producer.

* ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'' was meant to launch a ''Transformers'' cinematic universe, featuring the reveal of Quintessa, the Witwiccans' manor hinting at Transformer involvement all throughout human history, and the revelation that the Earth was Unicron all along. Poor reception and even poorer box office performance ensured that these movies would never come to be, though ''{{Film/Bumblebee}}'' would launch a rebooted film series with Michael Bay only serving as a producer.

* The failure of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'' (1990) actually prevented the making of any sequels to the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' film series as well as the making of a ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' movie and a ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' movie, although the latter would eventually happen [[Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022 32 years later]].

* ''{{Film/Bright}}'' was pitched by writer Creator/MaxLandis and advertised by Creator/{{Netflix}} as the start of a massive franchise, envisioned by Landis himself to be on par with ''Franchise/StarWars''. While the film ended up one of the most-streamed on Netflix, and [[Anime/BrightSamuraiSoul an anime spin-off film]] came and went in 2022, the intended sequel fell into DevelopmentHell (scrapped entirely by 2022), likely due to a mix of negative critical reception and troubled controversies surrounding its creators (director Creator/DavidAyer leaving the project, series of harrassment allegations levied at Landis, and star Creator/WillSmith getting several projects iceboxed following his incident at the 2022 Oscars).

* ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' (2009) was an attempt to adapt the famous manga in an AlternateContinuity and ended with an obvious SequelHook. But the movie was critically panned by the critics, the fans and [[DisownedAdaptation Akira Toriyama himself.]] In fact, Toriyama disliked the movie ''so much'' that he decided to make ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' just to spite Fox, which eventually led to ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' and a renaissance for the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise.

* ''Film/MasterAndCommander'' had pretty much the entire cast signed on for multiple sequels, ''and'' they bought the actual boat they used to make sure it was going to be available. It made enough money for it to be deemed a financial success, as well as being well received critically, but not enough to make the sequel a sure thing, and in the end it never happened. It was even fully titled ''Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'', taking the titles of two of the books so that the first book's name would work as a series title followed by the particular book that the film was closest to. That the rights are tied up with multiple studios didn't help matters.

* Creator/RayHarryhausen's ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' ends with Zeus saying "For Jason there will be other adventures..." which sounds like a sequel hook, but there wasn't one. This is probably for the best, because the rest of the myth is a total downer where Jason becomes a serious JerkAss.

Creator/DreamWorksAnimation is a particularly notable example of this trope. The studio is a franchise house by design - initially done as a way to stand out from Creator/{{Disney}} (who rarely made theatrical follow-up films to [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon their animated movies]] until the 2010s) in the 1990s, it [[JustifiedTrope became a necessity]] in 2004 when the studio split with its [[Creator/DreamWorksSKG live action counterpart]] and went independent. Every single one of their original films is intended to be the first in a potential film series; if [=DreamWorks=] makes a stand-alone film then it's purely by accident, as the film for one reason or another just couldn't spawn a franchise of its own.

* ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'' (2006) was supposed to mark the beginning of a new series of CGI Aardman films, but it resulted in both a $109 million loss and the end of the eight year partnership between [=DreamWorks=] and Creator/AardmanAnimations. The company would eventually jump ship to Creator/SonyPicturesAnimation, with the stop-motion animated ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesInAnAdventureWithScientists'' among one of the films released during their brief partnership.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' (2010), like ''Shark Tale'' and ''Monsters vs. Aliens'' before it, did poor international business and as a result a sequel to the film was cancelled. All three films, while technically profitable, were considered disappointments by [=DreamWorks=] because they did not travel well internationally.

* ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'' (2014) actually had a worse box-office performance than the previous three initially (but eventually managed to surpass them in terms of total box-office gross), despite receiving positive reviews and being fueled by the ''Franchise/{{Madagascar}}'' series, leading them to lose $49 million at theaters, over triple of what they expected, and the company's shares fell ''six percent'' because of it. The fallout from the film's under-performance combined with the above-mentioned under-performances led [=DreamWorks=] to shut down their second studio Pacific Data Images, lay off 500 employees including the CCO and COO, rethink their ambitious "three/four films a year" plan and eventually scale it down to two films a year, and eventually led to Katzenberg agreeing to sell his studio to Comcast/Universal without him coming with it.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie'' (2017) is also the last, since despite relatively positive reviews and the film recouping its budget, the results were below expectations. It received a Netflix spinoff instead in 2018.

* ''Film/{{Mortdecai}}'' was based on the first Mortdecai story "Don't Point That Thing at Me", and the studio hoped to follow it up with adaptations of the other four stories. However the film itself was a critical flop and a BoxOfficeBomb, barely making back half of its $60 million budget.

* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'' ends on a cliffhanger, implying that the battle has only just begun. However the film itself wasn't considered enough of a success (critically or financially) to warrant a follow-up. A rift between star Creator/MillaJovovich and the studio after the films release over marketing didn't help matters either.

* Paramount initially had huge plans for ''Film/MonsterTrucks'' during production, seeing franchise and merchandising potential in the premise. But after multiple delays, the studio started to lose faith, giving it a [[DumpMonths January release date]] and puting a $115 million write-down on the film. ''Monster Trucks'' ended up becoming a huge BoxOfficeBomb, just making back over half of its large budget; any ideas for a sequel are likely dead in the water.
* The 1996 film adaption of ''Film/{{The Phantom|1996}}'', starring Creator/BillyZane, was to have been followed by two sequels. Instead, it under-performed at the box office and no further films were made, despite subsequent redemption through rental sales.

* ''Film/TomorrowWhenTheWarBegan'' was based on the first of John Marsden's seven-book ''Tomorrow'' series. If its failure to make its money back at the Australian/New Zealand box office didn't guarantee the other six books (or the three follow up books focusing on the series' main character) wouldn't be filmed, the pitiful international takings certainly did. There was a ContinuityReboot in the form of a TV series in 2016 with an entirely new cast. That didn't fly either...

* A sequel to ''Film/AnimalHouse'' was planned that would take place during the 1969 Summer of Love and involve the Deltas reuniting for Otter's wedding. But when ''More Film/AmericanGraffiti'' bombed at the box-office, Universal stalled the project. The project was scrapped for good when Creator/JohnBelushi died in 1982.

* Creator/JohnHughes considered a sequel to ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' detailing what would happen upon the club's return to school the following Monday, but realized that it would be too complex a story to tell in film, and would be a logistical nightmare with regards to the actors reprising their roles. He danced around the idea of a novel, but ultimately never got around to it. He also tossed around the idea of doing a sequel every ten years, showing where the club was at in their lives, but for the above reasons (and possibly because of the DownerEnding predicted for Bender in a DeletedScene) he decided against it. It's a double shame when you consider that all five of the actors said they would have reprised their roles in a heartbeat. Any further ideas for a sequel permanently died off when John Hughes passed away, along with the five main actors now being too old to play their respective characters again.

* ''Film/{{The Wolfman|2010}}'' was meant to kickstart a direct-to-video werewolf franchise, with ''Film/WerewolfTheBeastAmongUs'' as the first installment. However,''The Wolfman'' opened to negative reviews, and the franchise was scrapped, with ''The Beast Among Us'' ultimately unrelated.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White 2]]'' would have introduced the evil Queen's sister kidnapping six of the dwarfs. Dopey would have guided Snow White, the prince and their daughter to rescue them.
* The title of ''WesternAnimation/Dougs1stMovie'' strongly implies that it was meant to be the first in a series of movies based on the then-popular ''{{WesternAnimation/Doug}}'' cartoon. At the time, movie adaptations of popular television cartoons was a common trend in animation, having started with the smash success of ''WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie'' and having continued with numerous other TV-to-movie adaptations. However, ''{{WesternAnimation/Doug}}'' had already been falling in popularity at the time, having been recently purchased by {{Creator/Disney}} and having had several [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks controversial changes]] applied to it. Moreover, ''WesternAnimation/Dougs1stMovie'' was not even intended to be a feature film, having started its life as a DirectToVideo film based on ''{{WesternAnimation/Doug}}'' before being abruptly moved to theaters [[FollowTheLeader after the aforementioned success of]] ''WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie''. As such, while the film was a box office success (owing to its low budget,) it received unfavorable reviews and became the only ''{{WesternAnimation/Doug}}'' movie ever made.

* ''Film/JohnCarter''. The problems began in late 2011 when Disney shopped the film around to various toy companies, and all of them refused to sign a deal to produce ''John Carter''-based merchandise, claiming that films based on Mars (including Disney's own bombs ''Film/MissionToMars'' and ''WesternAnimation/MarsNeedsMoms'') don't sell. In response, Disney dropped the "of Mars" from the title and refocused marketing efforts from the film's sci-fi elements to its action/adventure elements. The changes didn't resonate with the general public and sci-fi fans, both of whom saw the new advertisements and concluded that the film was a generic fantasy blockbuster. As a result, the film flopped at the box office, and ultimately led to the resignation of studio chief Rich Ross and the firing of marketing chief MT Carney. While there have been talks of a sequel despite its dismal box office take, Disney's commitment to continue the series was not strong. [[http://screenrant.com/john-carter-2-reboot-disney-movie-rights/ The rights have now reverted to the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate]] and they plan on making additional films. Whether or not the plan involves a sequel or a reboot is unclear.
* ''Film/TheLoneRanger2013''. Disney had been planning on making a film based on the Lone Ranger since the early 1990s, and finally greenlit the film's production in 2008. The production ended up going wildly over budget, was shut down for a while after ''Film/CowboysAndAliens'' flopped hard at the box office, and started up again a few months later with a slightly smaller budget, which ended up going up again. It got to the point where the film would have needed to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time to break even, at which point Disney decided to hold off on sequel plans. After the film bombed (when adjusted for inflation, it's the second biggest bomb ''in history'') the plans were completely thrown out - not helped by [[Creator/ArmieHammer both of]] [[Creator/JohnnyDepp its stars]] later finding themselves in major legal trouble. Both it and ''Cowboys and Aliens'' also [[GenreKiller beamed away the sci-fi/fantasy western genre]].

* The 1993 live-action ''[[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 Super Mario Bros.]]'' movie left on a sequel hook, with Daisy finding Luigi and Mario and shouting "You're never going to believe this!" We'll never find out what they'll never believe, since the planned sequels never saw the light of day either due to being a flop at the box-office and Creator/{{Nintendo}} responding with a mandate that film adaptations of their franchises not named ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' [[NoAdaptationsAllowed were completely forbidden]]; this also dropped Jeffrey Katzenberg's move to mix Nintendo into Disney's theme park model into the lava moat as well. Nintendo later greenlit [[WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie an animated]] ContinuityReboot by Illumination, and the theme park was made at Disney's rivals at Ride/UniversalStudios.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' earned comics, a few animated shorts and even books from the original author that followed the movie's story instead of [[Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit the novel]]. And yet a sequel movie languished in DevelopmentHell, partly because it's a Disney\Amblin co-production and thus needs Spielberg's approval (the first script, the WWII-set ''Roger Rabbit: The Toon Platoon'', was even nixed once Spielberg refused to satirize Nazis after ''Film/SchindlersList''), and eventually because of a change in the higher-ups' mentalities, with director Robert Zemeckis saying they are disinterested in reviving Roger Rabbit because "there’s no princess in it".

* Just as Literature/DocSavage served as a partial template for Buckaroo Banzai, his [[Film/DocSavageTheManOfBronze 1975 film]] announced a sequel which never appeared.
* Believe it or not, ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' almost got a sequel called ''Brazzaville''. Creator/HumphreyBogart and Creator/ClaudeRains signed on to reprise their roles, but Creator/IngridBergman was unavailable, which should have ended things right there, but Geraldine Fitzgerald was ultimately tapped to play Ilsa. By most reports, ''Brazzaville'' would have completely undone ''everything'' that made ''Casablanca'' great: Rick and Louis would both have been revealed to have been spies for the Allies, invalidating their apparently genuine CharacterDevelopment in the previous film, and Victor Laszlo finally would have met his end, freeing Ilsa to be with Rick without guilt (or that pesky Hays Office breathing down the studio's neck); this would result in a LoveTriangle between Rick, Ilsa, and a Spanish woman Rick had to seduce as part of his spy activities; ultimately, Rick and Ilsa would have wound up together and on a boat to the United States, living HappilyEverAfter. The studio (unsurprisingly) didn't care for this plot outline and (given that the war was winding down and Warner Bros. had a backlog of war pictures to get through before V-J Day) the idea of a sequel was dropped, and never revisited (at least on the screen).

* ''Film/TheGoldenCompass'' was a blockbuster hit [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff outside the U.S.]], but MisaimedMarketing and some [[ExecutiveMeddling boneheaded decisions]] by Creator/NewLineCinema, namely, selling off the ability to take '''any''' foreign gross (which led to their [[CreatorKiller getting absorbed into]] Creator/WarnerBros), meant the film still legally became a BoxOfficeBomb and ensured that the rest of the trilogy won't see the light of celluloid (the movie also wasn't all that well received critically either). Like ''Eragon'' above, some of the changes make it hard to figure how they would have finished it anyway. Apparently the filmmakers were quite determined to make the full trilogy work, but the late-2000s recession caused New Line to pull the plug. Outcries from the [[MoralGuardians Christian right]] in the U.S. over the first film may have also hurt its chances; while ''The Golden Compass'' didn't have a lot of anti-religious content to play down in a film, adapting the rest of ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' in a way that wouldn't offend that market would result in an unfaithful adaptation that would have offended the novels' fanbase. In 2015 the [=BBC=] announced that it would be adapting the saga from the beginning as a live-action TV series. It would go on to premiere in Fall 2019 on Creator/{{HBO}} and [[Creator/{{BBC}} BBC One]] as ''Series/HisDarkMaterials''.

* After ''Film/FlowersInTheAttic'', an adaptation of the book's first sequel was planned but never panned out, presumably due to negative critical and fan reception. It would have been hard to do so anyways, considering [[spoiler:the film killed off Corrine long before she died in the books]]. Averted with Lifetime's made for TV adaptation, which was soon joined by adaptations of the second, third, and fourth books in the ''Dollanganger'' series.
* Not that it ever had a realistic shot of becoming a franchise anyway due to the films decade-long TroubledProduction, but ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'' was intended to be the first of many films centering around food mascots and icons. It was sold to various food companies as a massive multimedia cross-promotion tool that could be adapted to television, stage shows, and countless toys and merchandise. Given the problems that started once they had raised enough funding to actually make the movie, it's clear that the film makers had put more thought into the potential franchise than the film itself, which had archaic animation that still would have dropped the film behind ''Finding Nemo'' (a robbery that set the production back didn't help).

* The 2017 LiveActionAdaptation of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' was meant as the first in a planned trilogy; but the film's disappointing reception at the box office makes the planned sequels unlikely to happen.

* Inverted in the case of Music/GarthBrooks' alter-ego, Chris Gaines. A movie called ''The Lamb'' was planned to chronicle the life and times of the multi-platinum enigmatic recording artist in Brooks' head. Then the preview ''[[Music/InTheLifeOfChrisGaines Greatest Hits]]'' album (recorded by Garth in-character) bombed, despite "Lost in You" being Garth's ''only'' Top 40 pop hit, in or out of character. Safe to say, no ''Lamb'' is forthcoming.

* ''Film/OddThomas'' seemed to have everything going for it to become a successful ongoing film series. Based on an already successful book series from a well known author, with an extremely likeable lead actor already on a career upswing, based on an intriguing yet relatable premise, a competent (if occasionally over ambitious) director combined with a film budget that didn’t break the bank the ingredients were all there for a series of decent and profitable films. Unfortunately the film was ScrewedByTheLawyers after bitter legal battles broke out between various production companies, crippling the films release and marketing causing it to bomb at the box office. This put director Creator/StephenSommers career in the slammer and after star Creator/AntonYelchin’s tragically young death just three years later the chances of any further films are pretty much dead in the water.

** Larry Cohen intended to make a few sequels to his 1982 remake of ''I, the Jury''. The script for one of them served as the basis for 1987's ''Deadly Illusion'', but as of 2010 no further Spillane-based films have reached theaters.

** While it lasted much longer, the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse (2013–2023) that was largely spearheaded by Creator/ZackSnyder eventually became this due to poor and mixed reception for most of its tenure, which resulted in an increasing drop in box office revenue due to people having lost interest in the franchise. Late in its life, films like ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'', ''Film/BlackAdam2022'', ''Film/ShazamFuryOfTheGods'', and ''Film/TheFlash2023'' all ended up severely underperforming at the box office, which it became clear at this point for the people at WB that the DC cinematic universe is a damaged brand that needs to be rebuilt from the ground up in order to win back the fans. This resulted in the hiring Creator/JamesGunn and Peter Safran to be the new overall heads of DC who will shepherd in a reboot that will start with ''Superman: Legacy'' in 2025. As a result, anything that previous films of the ''DCEU'' has hinted at for future movies (the overall threat of Darkseid, Lex Luthor making a league of villains, a fight between Black Adam and Superman, etc.) has now all come to a screeching halt.

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' is a unique example, as different filmmakers have tried (to date) three times to start a series, and in all three cases have failed. ''Film/ThePunisher1989'' starred Creator/DolphLundgren as Frank Castle and focused heavily on the Yakuza, and went DirectToVideo in the States. ''Film/ThePunisher2004'' reboot starred Thomas Jane as Castle, and adapted ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'' storyline, but was panned by reviewers who said it was boring, and a sequel hook (where Frank intends to drive to New York) never panned out. Although it has become a cult favorite. The series was rebooted once again with ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' (part of the then newly-launched ''Marvel Knights'' film franchise), an intended sequel that became a second reboot, and cast Creator/RayStevenson as a much more gritty, morose version of the character -- with plenty of nods to the comics and R-rated violence to boot. ''War Zone'' received middling reviews and bombed at the theaters, scuttling any plans for future installments. In October 2011, Fox announced that it would try to adapt the franchise for a television series, which ended up going nowhere and got shelved a year later. In the end, the rights to the character ended up reverting back to Marvel. So as a result, Marvel decided to use the success of adapting ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' for Netflix, and used season 2 of ''Daredevil'' to introduce Creator/JonBernthal's version of the Punisher, who received enough praise to earn [[Series/ThePunisher2017 his own spinoff]].

** The franchise underwent another soft reboot with ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' in 2019, once again with the intention of kickstarting a new film trilogy. While the film was better recieved than its predecessors, several controversial creative decisions and an extremely poor box office performance led to the studio deciding to cancel their plans for the trilogy.

* ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' (2009) was an attempt to adapt the famous manga in an AlternateContinuity and ended with an obvious SequelHook. But the movie was critically panned by the critics, the fans and [[DisownedAdaptation Akira Toriyama himself.]] In fact, Toriyama disliked the movie ''so much'' that he decided to make ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' just to spite Fox, which eventually lead to ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' and a renaissance for the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise.

* Creator/WillSmith intended for ''Film/AfterEarth'' to be this. [[https://images.app.goo.gl/DZRckpjwLqexg8sf7 An infamous Sony powerpoint slide]] was created, showing a spread of mocked-up ''Film/AfterEarth'' branded merchandise. The film utterly flopped after receiving heavy criticism for its perceived nepotism and misleading marketing in casting Creator/JadenSmith in the lead role over Creator/WillSmith, as well as just not being very a particularly inspired film in general. It's worth noting this movie was also intended to be a career revival for director Creator/MNightShyamalan.

* In 2011, ''Film/GreenLantern2011'' ended with a SequelHook setting up Sinestro as the BigBad of a future installment, and was intended to be the start of DC's SharedUniverse, [[FollowTheLeader following the example]] of [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]]. However, the movie was met with lukewarm reception at the box office and terrible reviews from critics, which killed off any chance for a sequel or a shared universe. ''Film/ManOfSteel'' received a better box office and critical reception in 2013, and ended up as the launching pad of the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse.

* It's quite evident by the ending that the ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000'' film intended to have more films following it revolving around the same characters, but many years passed without any word on future plans. Warner Bros. eventually announced [[http://variety.com/2015/film/news/dungeons-dragons-movie-in-works-at-warner-bros-as-lawsuit-ends-1201555394/ a new project after the end of a lawsuit]].

* ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' underperformed domestically ($85 million, on a $170 million budget), even though its final worldwide box office results defied the most pessimistic expectations. There has been no word on a potential sequel since, be it before or after the buyout of Fox by Disney.

* There were several attempts to extend ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEighthDimension'' into a franchise, all of which failed. The decision to treat the first film as if it were already in the middle of a multimedia franchise (and assuming audiences would be [[ViewersAreGeniuses in on the joke]]) may have backfired. The movie ended in a SequelHook, and a TV spinoff was attempted by Creator/{{ABC}}, but the rights got locked up for nearly a decade by a nutcase studio executive whose paranoia made him believe the filmmakers had tried to rip him off. It wasn't until his suicide that the rights were released. Several attempts were made to create both a movie sequel and a television series spinoff, but [[ExecutiveMeddling studio expectations]], combined with [[CreativeDifferences conflict over character and story continuity]], effectively killed the projects.

Creator/DreamWorksAnimation is a particularly notable example of this trope. The studio is a franchise house by design - initially done as a way to stand out from Creator/{{Disney}} (who rarely made theatrical follow-up films to [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon their animated movies]] until the 2010s) in the 1990s, it [[JustifiedTrope became a necessity]] in 2004 when the studio split with its [[Creator/DreamWorks live action counterpart]] and went independent. Every single one of their original films is intended to be the first in a potential film series; if [=DreamWorks=] makes a stand-alone film then it's purely by accident, as the film for one reason or another just couldn't spawn a franchise of its own.

* ''WesternAnimation/MrPeabodyAndSherman'' (2014) was the first film made as a result of [=DreamWorks=]' purchase of the Classic Media holding company, and was intended to test the waters and see if audiences would be interested in seeing Classic's library of older characters re-imagined on the big screen. Although it had a decent opening weekend and held the #1 box office spot in the U.S. for a week, as well as good critical and audience reception, it quickly fell after the releases of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Rio 2}}'', and ended up losing the studio [[http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/dreamworks-animation-takes-57m-impairment-charge-on-mr-peabody-sherman/ $57 million]]. The movie also managed to underperform '''both''' ''Rise of the Guardians'' and ''Turbo'', and is the studio's second-lowest grossing CGI film after ''WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie''. While any chance of a sequel is low, ''WesternAnimation/TheMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'' premiered on Netflix in October 2015.

* ''Film/{{Power Rangers|2017}}'' was intended as the start of a cinematic franchise to span anywhere from five to seven films. After a strong opening weekend in the US and Canada, however, it dropped like a rock with a final gross barely over two times the opening weekend tally. Worse, it was a box office bomb in its foreign release; with the Japanese opening getting overshadowed by ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'' and the Japanese releases of ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'' and ''WesternAnimation/Cars3''. The strong sales of the [[MerchandiseDriven tie-in toyline]] left the possibility of a sequel open, and Creator/{{Hasbro}} initially announced development of a sequel after their acquisition of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, but in 2019 they announced that the next movie would be a reboot at Paramount, killing Lionsgate's attempt at a franchise for good.

* ''{{Film/The Three Musketeers|2011}}'' ends on a cliffhanger, implying that the battle has only just begun. However the film itself wasn't considered enough of a success (critically or financially) to warrant a follow-up. A rift between star Creator/MillaJovovich and the studio after the films release over marketing didn't help matters either.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Turbo}}'' (2013) actually managed to ''out-underperform'' ''Rise of the Guardians'' at the box office (though oddly enough the studio didn't take nearly as big a hit, [[http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/dreamworks-animation-takes-13-5m-charge-for-turbo-as-q4-earnings-lag-analyst-estimates/ only losing $13.5 million]] on the film). This was a major blow to [=DreamWorks=] as they were hoping that the film would result in their next billion-dollar franchise (or more accurately, that it would result in [[FollowTheLeader their version]] of Creator/{{Pixar}}'s own billion-dollar racing franchise ''{{WesternAnimation/Cars}}''). A [[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/onlocation/la-et-ct-dreamworks-lawsuit-20140811-story.html lawsuit against the film]] means that any chance of a ''Turbo'' sequel is all but dead. Though a made-for-Netflix show called ''Turbo F.A.S.T.'' was put into development before the film came out and premiered in December 2013.

* After the success of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' as a CashCowFranchise, Pixar wanted to make ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' as popular as that franchise with TOMY's toyline based off the movie. However, because the movie was a BoxOfficeBomb and was not received well among the target audience since [[NightmareFuel it had many scary moments]] and was way too dramatic even for Pixar standards, it fizzled away once the movie came to home video.

* ''Film/TheLoneRanger''. Disney had been planning on making a film based on the Lone Ranger since the early 1990s, and finally greenlit the film's production in 2008. The production ended up going wildly over budget, was shut down for a while after ''Film/CowboysAndAliens'' flopped hard at the box office, and started up again a few months later with a slightly smaller budget, which ended up going up again. It got to the point where the film would have needed to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time to break even, at which point Disney decided to hold off on sequel plans. After the film bombed (when adjusted for inflation, it's the second biggest bomb ''in history'') the plans were completely thrown out - not helped by [[Creator/ArmieHammer both of]] [[Creator/JohnnyDepp its stars]] later finding themselves in major legal trouble. Both it and ''Cowboys and Aliens'' also [[GenreKiller beamed away the sci-fi/fantasy western genre]].

* Much was expected of ''Film/BlackAdam2022''. With Creator/DwayneJohnson in the starring role, a connection to smash hit ''Film/Shazam2019'', the titular character being included as a playable character in the WB [[MascotFighter crossover fighting game]] ''VideoGame/{{Multiversus}}'' to help promote the film, and a ton of hype behind it, the movie was expected to introduce a character who would have sequels and many more appearances in the DCEU. Then the movie badly underperformed at the box office, got mediocre reception at best and came out when Creator/JamesGunn and Peter Safron took over as heads of DC's film division and wiped the slate clean. Needless to say, any future Johnson appearances as Black Adam are dead.

* ''Film/AssassinsCreed'' was to be the initial film in a series about the Assassin's Brotherhood, but the movie debuted to very negative reception and only grossed $240 million worldwide on a $125 million budget. Any remaining hope of a sequel was definitively quashed when 20th Century Fox was purchased by Disney.

** ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' was envisioned as the first installment of the Film/DarkUniverse, and Universal even went so far as to have a massive cast photo with Creator/JavierBardem as Literature/{{Frankenstein}} and Creator/JohnnyDepp as Literature/TheInvisibleMan. They even prepared a special teaser trailer cut from older Universal horror films, along with a new logo presented with music by Creator/DannyElfman. And then ''The Mummy'' opened to horrible reviews and box-office returns that stood to lose $90 million; one common complaint was that the film spent too much time trying to set up future films. A hasty reshuffling of the slate soon followed in an attempt to salvage the idea, but [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/alex-kurtzman-chris-morgan-exit-universal-monsterverse-1055854 one of the key producers]] soon left, and in May 2019 they announced that they would focus on standalone films about the characters instead, produced by Creator/BlumhouseProductions, starting with ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020''.

* Much was expected of ''Film/BlackAdam''. With Creator/DwayneJohnson in the starring role, a connection to smash hit ''Film/{{Shazam}}'', the titular character being included as a playable character in the WB [[MascotFighter crossover fighting game]] ''VideoGame/{{Multiversus}}'' to help promote the film, and a ton of hype behind it, the movie was expected to introduce a character who would have sequels and many more appearances in the DCEU. Then the movie badly underperformed at the box office, got mediocre reception at best and came out when Creator/JamesGunn and Peter Safron took over as heads of DC's film division and wiped the slate clean. Needless to say, any future Johnson appearance as Black Adam are dead.

* Creator/WaltDisney intended for ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' to be rereleased every year with some new segments. Thanks to a combination of bad timing (released while UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo was heating up) and an animators' strike, ''Fantasia'' became a BoxOfficeBomb. Unused segments ended up being released as standalone shorts. Sixty years later, Walt Disney's nephew Roy tried to resurrect the dream project with ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia 2000}}''; once again, segments created for a never-finished sequel were released as standalone shorts.

* ''WesternAnimation/FurbyIsland'' was intended to be a pilot movie for a TV series that would, of course, promote the Toys/{{Furby}} toyline, with the end of the movie teasing that there was more to come. The series was even green-lit, but due to a change in [[Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} Nickelodeon’s]] executives, the project fell way off-track until it was eventually scrapped altogether.

* Much was expected of ''Film/BlackAdam''. With Creator/DwayneJohnson in the starring role, a connection to smash hit Film/{{Shazam}} and a ton of hype behind it, the movie was expected to introduce a character who would have sequels and many more appearances in the DCEU. Then the movie badly underperformed at the box office, got mediocre reception at best and came out when Creator/JamesGunn and Peter Safron took over as heads of DC's film division and wiped the slate clean. Needless to say, any future Johnson appearance as Black Adam are dead.

* ''Film/{{Eragon}}'', despite having been [[TemptingFate hubristically]] advertised as "The First in the Trilogy." Ironically, the movie makes numerous changes to the plot, including leaving out the book's SequelHook ending. Even if more movies had been made, it would require such drastic changes to the plot of the next two books that they would have been barely recognizable. Oh, and there's the fact that the author decided to write a [[TrilogyCreep fourth book]] within a few months of the film's release.

* The end of the film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' left a SequelHook that the characters would be going to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in the next film. The first film was somewhat successful (grossing $104 million worldwide on a $50 million budget) and the actors and the director were signed on for a sequel, but Disney (through Touchstone) decided against making it, claiming the film wasn't profitable enough. It did not help that Creator/DouglasAdams [[DiedDuringProduction died before production completion]] as well.