Will We Ever Get The Santa Clause 4?
While Tim Allen is best known for his role as Tim Taylor in the nineties ABC sitcom "Home Improvement," he has had a prosperous movie career as well, appearing in notable films such as 2007's "Wild Hogs," 2006's "The Shaggy Dog," and 1999's "Galaxy Quest," to say nothing of him being the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the "Toy Story" flicks. Other than the latter series, though, perhaps the most famous movie franchise that Allen is associated with has a decidedly Christmas-y theme.
The 1994 film "The Santa Clause" saw Allen play Scott Calvin, a man who inadvertently kills Santa Claus, invoking a rule (I.E., the Santa "Clause") that declares he must become the new Santa Claus as a result. The film led to two sequels, "The Santa Clause 2" in 2002, and "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" in 2006. Many fans have wondered about the possibility of a fourth entry in the franchise, especially given Allen's return to television with the sitcom "Last Man Standing," as well as the renewed prominence of Martin Short, who plays Jack Frost in the franchise, with his role in the Hulu series "Only Murders In The Building," which recently got a Season 2 renewal.
However, just how likely is it that Allen's Kris Kringle will ever hop on his sleigh again?
Don't count on another Santa Clause movie
The possibilities of "The Santa Clause 4" coming to fruition are quite slim. A look at the Rotten Tomatoes score of the four films reveals a steady decline in critical response, with the first movie garnering a Fresh rating at 72% — really, it was no surprise that a sequel was made — but the second film faring much worse, landing at 56%. The third movie fell even more precipitously, finishing with a score of only 17%. Positive audience scores could have balanced out negative critic scores, but this franchise doesn't have the benefit of those, either. While the first film has an audience score of 65%, "The Santa Clause 2" scores only 42% with audiences, while the third falls even more to 39%, revealing that audiences are in agreement with critics on the movie's quality.
However, the most damning indication of the franchise's decline is its box office totals. Box Office Mojo reveals that the first film made $145.5 million domestically on a $22 million budget. The second film, however, made $139.2 million domestically, which isn't much of a drop, but it's noticeable that the budget for the film jumped up to $65 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The third film, by comparison, made only $84.5 million at the domestic box office (via Box Office Mojo).
This means that the third film had the lowest box office total, the lowest Tomatometer score, and the lowest budget. The combination of these factors suggests that a fourth entry in the franchise is unlikely.