Long-Term Movie Franchises That Didn't Pan Out

As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions — and so too are many subsequent box office flops crafted with the hope of inspiring lengthy franchises. But it doesn't always work out. With the popularity of sagas like "Star Wars" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) — two franchises that are consistently profitable — Hollywood is always trying to replicate the lightning in a bottle that made certain films beloved enough to spawn endless sequels and spin-offs. However, for every successful movie franchise, there are those that result in a legendary flop. Placing the big-picture, long-term world-building as a priority over satisfying standalone narratives is almost always a recipe for disaster. That's how you end up with "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising" instead of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Cinema history is littered with countless examples of long-term franchises that never panned out — especially in the last decade when the MCU made shared narratives the hot new item every studio had to chase. These projects range from botched reimaginings of classic characters, to elaborate plans for video game adaptations, and even a franchise centered around D-list toys. For all their differences, what these properties share is the grim fate of never getting to fully realize the expansive plans they had for future installments. These are just some of the ill-fated franchises that didn't quite pan out as hoped. 

While it is now a punching bag on the internet, it's easy to forget that at one point, the Dark Universe — a planned cinematic universe reimagining the Universal Monsters — had a lot of hype behind it. The plan was to kick off with the Tom Cruise vehicle, "The Mummy" in 2017, and there were extensive plans for different modern takes on the vintage monsters. These included a star-studded take on "Bride of Frankenstein," and rumored updated versions of "The Wolf Man" and "Van Helsing." If Universal had managed to pull off the Dark Universe, it would've supplied a steady stream of projects for the studio — potentially for decades to come. 

Unfortunately for the studio, the Dark Universe fizzled out just as it began. "The Mummy" flopped in its theatrical run (via Deadline), immediately poisoning the well for any potential future movies. Future productions in the franchise were shelved and talks of continuing any storylines introduced in "The Mummy" suddenly fell silent. Years later, Universal head Donna Langley admitted that the Dark Universe failed on all fronts, and chalked up its demise to a misconception on the part of the studio regarding what audiences wanted from these enduring monsters (via The Hollywood Reporter).  

Combined, the "Jason Bourne" movies have all made Universal Pictures a staggering $1.66 billion worldwide. Based on a series of books penned by Robert Ludlum, "Bourne" is a guaranteed moneymaker for Universal, but there's only so much you can do with a character like this before audiences grow weary. Attempts to expand the franchise beyond Matt Damon's Bourne — as seen in 2012's "The Bourne Legacy" — proved it's hard to make audiences care about this world without the presence of Damon. However, that challenge didn't stop Universal from conjuring up big plans for a series of movies that would be based on other works by Ludlum.

Two months before the 2016 movie "Jason Bourne" debuted, Universal Pictures announced it was developing a cinematic universe of movies all based on books by Robert Ludlum (via The Hollywood Reporter). This would kick off with an adaptation of "The Janson Directive," anchored by mega-star Dwayne Johnson. The prospect of combining the aesthetics of the "Bourne" movies with a bankable lead like Johnson must've sounded like a dream come true for Universal executives. However, there was never any further progress on this proposed universe. The eventual mixed response to Damon's return in "Jason Bourne" may have diluted Universal's enthusiasm for Ludlum adaptations, while Johnson's busy schedule also likely caused the project to be endlessly delayed. Whatever the reason, ambitious plans to keep cranking out movie adaptations of Robert Ludlum novels eventually went nowhere.

As "Gods of Egypt" was preparing to hit theaters at the end of February 2016, The Los Angeles Times delivered a piece talking about all the lofty expectations that movie studio Lionsgate once had for the film. Specifically, Lionsgate had harbored hopes that "Gods of Egypt" would be able to function as the studio's new go-to long-term franchise now that "The Hunger Games" saga had come to a close. The universe of "Gods of Egypt" was so packed with fantastical characters and dense lore that it could've sustained countless installments. The unpredictable variable in this equation, though, was the moviegoing public, who needed to show up in droves to justify "Gods of Egypt" being turned into a massive franchise.

Needless to say, that didn't happen. "Gods of Egypt" tanked in its theatrical run, grossing just $138.8 million worldwide and only $31 million domestically on a $140 million budget. That sum made "Gods of Egypt" one of the biggest box office failures of 2016, rather than something that would spawn a sea of sequels. Whatever caused it to sink at the box office, it quickly became clear that "Gods of Egypt" was not destined to be Lionsgate's next golden goose franchise.  

Square Enix has been responsible for many iconic video games, including the "Final Fantasy" series. Given the ubiquity of its titles, it's not surprising that many of them have found their way into major film adaptations. With the release of 2015's "Hitman: Agent 47," producer Adrian Askarieh explained to IGN that he had high ambitions of going even further than just making further standalone movies based on Square Enix properties. Since Askarieh was also tackling a "Just Cause" feature, he had started to formulate concepts for a whole cinematic universe of movies rooted in Square Enix characters.

Askarieh was open about the fact that he could never make a full ideal version of this concept simply because he didn't own the film rights to all the Square Enix properties (namely "Tomb Raider"), but considering he did have the rights to other Square Enix brands like "Deus Ex," he was confident he could still pull off an exciting cinematic universe. The kicker here, though, was that Askarieh himself said that the existence of this universe hinged on the box office takings of "Hitman: Agent 47." That title would go on to gross $82.1 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, not a catastrophic haul but certainly not enough to inspire a cinematic universe. With that box office sum, it was game over for any Square Enix cinematic universe plans.  

In the wake of "The Avengers" becoming a record-shattering box office hit in 2012 (via CNN), everyone in Hollywood wanted to get in on the cinematic universe bandwagon. But entities like the MCU don't just grow on trees and studios were going to need to get creative in how they created the next long-term saga. In October 2014, Sony Pictures executives were convinced they had the perfect fodder for a cinematic universe, using the Robin Hood mythos. The studio spent well over $1 million on a pitch for a franchise (via The Hollywood Reporter) that would've dedicated individual movies to Robin Hood and the various members of his Merry Men. The idea was to reimagine these characters more in the vein of "Mission: Impossible" than Errol Flynn.

A few months after this announcement, Hollywood had gotten Robin Hood fever, with several studios creating their own takes on the material (per Deadline). At this juncture, Sony was still committed to this expansive project and had even recruited Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer for the affair. However, no further news ever emerged on these plans. There are countless reasons why Sony never followed through on its initially bold plans to make Robin Hood the next Iron Man. However, the disastrous box office haul of Lionsgate's "Robin Hood" in 2018 likely put the final nail in the coffin of Sony's ambitions to turn Robin Hood into a blockbuster franchise.  

Though Hasbro toys have made some of the most popular playthings on the planet, film adaptations based on Hasbro properties have a far more mixed record. The "Transformers" saga has stretched on for over 15 years — with varying degrees of success — and there were three separate "G.I. Joe" titles. However, "Battleship" sank without a trace at the box office and other attempts at reimagining Hasbro properties for the modern moviegoing landscape — such as "Jem and the Holograms" — went terribly. Still, these box office results didn't deter Hasbro from briefly pursuing plans to execute a sprawling cinematic universe.

The proposed Hasbro cinematic universe would've been populated by lesser-known properties owned by the toy company, like "M.A.S.K." and "Micronauts," and in 2016, a sizeable writer's room was assembled to come up with potential plotlines for this expansive franchise (per Variety). In theory, this collection of talent should've produced a steady stream of ideas, however, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura admitted to Entertainment Weekly in 2021 that they failed to generate much quality material for prospective Hasbro film adaptations. With this writer's room turning out to be a bust, the Hasbro cinematic universe never got off the ground.

A month before "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" hit movie theaters, a big announcement was made that this feature would no longer be the start of a trilogy as previously stated. Instead, there were now grand ambitions for the story of Newt Scamander to span five massive movies (per Variety). Grand plans at the time had this franchise delivering a new movie every other year until 2024. While it would've normally been foolhardy to commit so heavily to a long-term saga before the first film ever debuted, the original "Harry Potter" movies lasted for eight installments. On paper, it didn't seem like a ludicrous notion that the "Fantastic Beasts" side of this universe could sustain five separate adventures.

Unfortunately for Warner Bros. — and others with a vested interest in the "Fantastic Beasts" features — Newt Scamander and his chums never became as beloved as the Wizarding World installments that came before. By the time the third movie — "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" — opened in April 2022, it could only generate $404 million worldwide. By the end of that year, the inevitable bleak news emerged that the final two entries in the "Fantastic Beasts" saga were not going forward at the moment (per Variety). Despite all the initial hype about this corner of the Wizarding World, the "Fantastic Beasts" saga failed to capture audiences and didn't reach its initial goal of five movies.