In Hollywood, not everything goes as planned — and sometimes movies simply never get
made. As a result, trilogies and franchises that once had bright futures can be killed
off before their time. These are the movie trilogies that, for whatever reason, will
never see the light of day.
Comic book movies really took off in the early 2000s, with countless studios giving obscure
comic characters the big-screen treatment, in the hopes of mining gold from pulp. So
fans' hearts leapt when geek god Guillermo del Toro's took on an adaptation of Mike Mignola's
Dark Horse comic series, Hellboy. Del Toro quickly proved his fanboy bona fides when
he chose not to cast an A-list leading man. Instead, he hired the picture-perfect character
actor Ron Perlman to play everyone's favorite cigar-chomping, monster-busting, gun-wielding
half-demon. Critics were into Hellboy, too, giving it an 81 percent Tomatometer score
— but its $59 million domestic and $99 million worldwide gross spooked Revolution Studios
into jumping ship.
So Universal picked up the rights and greenlit Hellboy II: The Golden Army. This move paid
off, with the movie garnering even better reviews and a $168 million worldwide gross.
Alas, Hellboy II had the bad luck of opening one week before The Dark Knight broke box
office records, and sales dropped a mind-boggling 70 percent in the movie's second weekend.
So while del Toro hoped to complete the trilogy, he knew his budget of $120 million for a final
movie was a tough sell. Finally, in 2017 del Toro Tweeted that Hellboy 3 was 100 percent
not happening. Lionsgate rebooted the series in 2019 with Neil Marshall as director and
David Harbour as the big red guy, but moviegoers and fans said "hell no" to the new Hellboy
— which was a critical and box office disaster.
"Not this crap again, lady."
Putting it lightly, Spider-Man is kinda popular. The world's favorite wall-crawler broke the
opening weekend record twice on his own, and then two more times with the Avengers. The
first Spider-Man sent the comic book movie renaissance into overdrive in 2002, when it
became the first film to earn more than $100 million in a single weekend. Spider-Man 2
continued the trend, and while Spider-Man 3 ended the first series with a whimper, the
Sam Raimi Spider-Man films still earned more than $2.5 billion worldwide.
"How's the pie?"
"So good."
Sony rebooted the series eight years later for 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, this time
with Andrew Garfield in the tights and Marc Webb in the director's chair. The box office
results were solid and the reviews were strong, so naturally, before a sequel had even been
released, Sony went completely off the rails. The studio announced a third and fourth film
— as well as spinoffs for the Sinister Six and Venom, effectively launching a Spidey
Cinematic Universe.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 arrived in 2014, but despite earning decent box office returns,
the horrible reviews suggested Spidey was headed in the wrong direction. Luckily, Disney
swooped in and brought the web-spinner back to his record-breaking ways in the MCU, while
Sony scored huge with Venom — and won an Oscar with Into the Spider-Verse. But while
Spider-Man is today as popular as ever, Amazing Spider-Man 3 has long been squished.
Tron was always a tough sell for a blockbuster franchise. The original film bombed in 1982,
earning just $26 million at the box office, but it built enough of a cult following in
the 30 years since that Disney felt confident enough to spend $200 million on a sequel — and
release it during the holiday season. But Tron: Legacy underperformed both critically
and commercially, earning $172 domestically and $400 million worldwide. Those box office
numbers aren't terrible, especially considering the age of the franchise, but with a budget
that high, Disney realized its money was better spent elsewhere. Notably, only two years prior
to Tron: Legacy's release, the company had begun the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Before Tron: Legacy was even released, the film's screenwriters were already working
on a script for a third film. But after the sequel's lackluster box office results, the
chances of Tron 3 ever making it to screens were pretty dicey. Finally, Disney officially
announced in 2015 that there really wouldn't be a Tron 3. Still, Tron: Legacy's director
Joseph Kosinski is holding out hope, and he believes there are Tron fans at Disney who
want to make a sequel happen.
The Alien franchise is a classic movie series that, to be honest, should've stuck with just
the two films. Ridley Scott made one of the greatest horror films of all time with 1979's
Alien, while James Cameron followed it up with one of the greatest action movies ever
with 1986's Aliens. Although Alien 3 has been reappraised in recent years, studio interference
forced director David Fincher to disavow the film, which underperformed compared to its
all-time classic predecessors. The less said about Alien: Resurrection, the better.
But you just can't keep a good Xenomorph down. In 2012, Ridley Scott returned to the director's
chair after 33 years to direct the much-anticipated Alien prequel, Prometheus. The film received
so-so reviews, and earned a middling $402 million worldwide. Despite the lukewarm audience
response, however, Scott had the confidence to announce his plans for three Prometheus
sequels. But while Alien: Covenant made a tidy profit — thanks mostly to its relatively
low budget — it suffered a steep drop in positive reviews in comparison to its predecessor.
Although Ridley Scott and his cast are said to still be onboard for a sequel, to be titled
Alien: Awakening, the third film was greenlit before Disney's $71 billion purchase of Fox.
While Disney certainly still sees money in the Alien franchise, it's unlikely the studio
is particularly confident in a third movie, given Covenant's diminishing returns.
If you suggested twenty years ago that a movie with Iron Man, Thor, and Hawkeye would make
more money than a film with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, the world would've called
you crazy. So how did it happen? Well, many factors are involved, but the shocking underperformance
of the DCEU has mostly fallen at the feet of Zack Snyder. Snyder was handed the reins
to the DCEU after Man of Steel performed relatively well on its release — and also because Christopher
Nolan probably wasn't interested. Despite fans' disappointment with Man of Steel and
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, each made money, mostly because they featured the most
popular superheroes ever made.
Unfortunately, Snyder's Justice League wound up lacking and earned a relatively low amount
at the box office considering the movie's iconic line-up of heroes. So where would Snyder
have gone with the series, if things had been different? According to Kevin Smith, the two
Justice League sequels would have featured the Green Lantern Corps and Darkseid. While
a quote "Snyder Cut" could be in play for HBO Max, you can be pretty certain that Warner
Bros. won't be spending money on any sequels anytime soon.
The Fantastic Four have had a rough time at the box office, starting with a 1994 film
that's so bad it wasn't even released. In 2005, the trend continued when Fantastic Four
earned an atrocious 27 percent Tomatometer score.
However, the movie's light tone stood out against the doom-and-gloom movies released
that summer, and it earned decent returns at the box office — $154 million domestically
and $333 million worldwide. Naturally, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer did just as
badly with critics, but this time, it flopped at the box office.
While all five main cast-members were signed to a three-picture deal, a 13 percent box
office drop with a 25 percent higher budget gave Fox executives pause for thought. Whatever
fans the film had left all had their hopes dashed when a pre-Captain America Chris Evans
said a third film probably wasn't happening. But even though that trilogy was doomed, Fox
tried to relaunch the series in 2015, this time with a darker tone that was totally off
the mark — resulting in the worst reviews and box office performance yet. Marvel Studios
president Kevin Feige recently teased the Fantastic Four's MCU debut, so here's hoping
the team finally gets the big screen outing they deserve.
In 2012, the Mouse House released one of the biggest bombs of all time: John Carter. Based
on Edgar Rice Burroughs' 100-year-old book series, John Carter is about a Civil War vet
who's transported to Barsoom aka Mars, where he gets wrapped up in the fight between the
Tharks and the Red Martians.
Sound like a stretch? Well, Disney didn't think so — the company spent an astronomical
$250 million on the film, with some reports going as high as $300 million, making it the
most expensive original movie ever made. In the end, John Carter made only $73 million
domestically and $284 million worldwide, weak numbers for a film on a modest budget, but
absolutely devastating for one that cost over $250+ million. In fact, if not for The Avengers'
record-breaking run in the summer of 2012, John Carter's failure might have sunk Disney's
live-action film division for good.
Since then, director Andrew Stanton has revealed there were plans for a trilogy, with the next
two films already having titles and plots based on Burroughs' books. John Carter's total
collapse obviously killed those dreams, but Edgar Rice Burroughs' estate regained the
rights in 2014, hoping to bring the character back to the big screen.
While Leonardo DiCaprio followed up his role in a James Cameron record-breaker by making
movies with Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, Sam Worthington followed up Avatar with Clash
of the Titans. Hey, maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time.
A remake of Ray Harryhausen's 1981 all-star classic, the 2010 Clash of the Titans also
had a stacked cast featuring Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, and a CGI kraken. Needless to
say, reviews were brutal, but the movie made enough money to buy real estate on Mount Olympus.
The sequel, Wrath of the Titans, did just as badly with critics but much worse with
audiences, making measly returns at the box office. Warner Bros. was already planning
a third Titans film, but the sequel's steep 40 percent decline gave the suits pause. By
2013, the film's producer declared Titans 3 D.O.A. unless there were fresh ideas — although
you'd think that the entire span of Greek mythology would have provided at least a few.
And while Worthington's more recent career has subsequently disappointed, at least now
he can look forward to doing some more Avatar.
Independence Day was one of the seminal summer movies of the 1990s. It blew up the box office
in the summer of 1996, and went on to become the highest-grossing movie of the year. When
a movie makes that much money, especially on a modest budget, it usually means sequels.
Lots of them. But a funny thing happened on the way to outer space. Summer after summer,
big movies came and went, but an Independence Day sequel never happened.
But 2015 was the year of nostalgia, so Fox figured that Independence Day: Resurgence
would be the next blockbuster sequel to rule the summer. Boy, were they wrong. There were
a few problems. Firstly, Resurgence didn't feature original star Will Smith, who opted
not to return and had his character killed off. Second, the film wasn't just bad — it
was really silly, too.
"Wait a minute, wait. You can't go. Who's gonna — who's gonna water the orchids?"
"Who's gonna make sure you put your pants on?"
Consequently, Independence Day: Resurgence seriously underwhelmed with an alarming 53
percent drop on the original's returns — a fall in figures that's even more startling
considering the 20-year difference in ticket price inflation. Clearly, moviegoers were
over the series. Given producer Dean Devlin is over it, too, and how the Disney-Fox merger
has shaken up all of Fox's slate, you can safely bet that there's not going to be an
Independence Day 3 in Earth's future.
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