Movie Franchises that need to die

It’s not uncommon for great films to spark a firestorm of awful sequels that try to continuously cash in on the success of the original (insert most horror films ever made). In 2019 there are a few franchises that are trucking along, riding the coattails of modern classics, and more and more studios have been trying to create broader universes due to Marvel’s success with the MCU, but it’s time for us to put these out of their misery:

The Conjuring Universe

The Conjuring is one of the best horror films released within the last 10 years, and not only that, but pulled it off with a PG13 rating. Since then, the follow ups in the conjuring universe have been relatively horrifying in their quality. While The Conjuring 2 and Annabelle Creation were both solid, the rest of the universe has relied to heavily on Cliche’s and common tropes, with a lack of imagination or any real scares. The two most recent entries, The Nun and The Curse of La Llarona (which wasn’t even marketed as a Conjuring film) were two of the worst in the franchise. If the Conjuring 3 and Annabelle Comes Home don’t reverse the trend, it may be time to cut it off and make space for new, better films to take their places.

The DC Extended Universe

What a mess DC has made with the Snyderverse. When Marvel’s universe took off, DC tried frantically to keep up, which ended up causing the films released in the DCEU to seem rushed, and lacking quality. While Wonder Woman was great and Aquaman (and even Man of Steel) was solid, the shared films (BvS, Suicide Squad, Justice League) have been absolute train wrecks. It’s time for DC and WB to take a step back and start from the beginning.

Jurassic Park/World

Jurassic Park is my all time favorite movie, which is why it pains me to have them on this list. The Jurassic franchise has strayed so far from the themes and magic from the original, it’s kind of funny (a film which, in part, is a cautionary tale about commercial exploitation has turned into a commercial powerhouse… irony). With the ridiculously nonsensical story of Fallen Kingdom and looking back at the sub par former sequels (Lost World /JP3) there is little that hints of any sway in the right direction. How many times can we warn people not to reincarnate dinosaurs?

Fantastic Beasts

The Harry Potter World is fun, unique, has deep characters, and tells intriguing stories, none of which can be said for the Fantastic Beasts spin-offs. While I did enjoy the first, The Crimes of Grindelwald was disappointing to say the least. Sorry J.K. Rowling, I think it’s time to throw in the towel.

On the fringe:

Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men, Fast and the Furious, Terminator.

The above franchises have either already accepted their fate and/or have begun major changes to turn themselves around.

Transformers has revitalized itself with Bumblebee (and by showing Michael Bay the door), Disney has decided to reboot the Pirates franchise completely, F&F has brought in fun new characters and has kept the quality relatively high with the last few entries, and Terminator Dark Fate brings back Linda Hamilton and James Cameron for the first time since T2. X-Men however, can be considered dead, until Marvel reboots it in the MCU in the years to come.