Not every trilogy goes as planned, and some never even make it to the finish line. Maybe
they bombed at the box office, perhaps they were savaged by critics, or maybe there was
behind-the-scenes drama. Whatever the reason, these movie trilogies were stopped in their
tracks and will never be completed.
Sony Pictures saw dollar signs in the popular Millennium series by the late Swedish novelist
and journalist Stieg Larsson, and assembled an all-star cast and crew to make a movie.
David Fincher was perfectly suited for this dark, sordid material, while Daniel Craig
and Rooney Mara seamlessly brought main characters Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander to life.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won rave reviews from critics, but it wasn't a runaway hit,
earning $102 million domestically and $232 million worldwide on a $90 million budget
in 2011. Sony wanted to cut costs on the sequel, but Daniel Craig, fresh off Skyfall's global
gross of $1 billion, wanted a raise.
As a result, the studio squashed any hopes of a Mara and Craig trilogy. Instead, Sony
opted to go with an entirely new cast seven years later with the 2018 sequel, The Girl
in the Spider's Web, casting Claire Foy as Lisbeth and Sverrir Gudnason as Mikael. But
not even the film's modest $43 million budget could save it, with the film earning only
$14 million domestic and $35 million worldwide gross.
With Tom Cruise in the title role, the original Jack Reacher film, about an ex-military policeman,
was an above-average crime thriller, earning a 63 percent Tomatometer score and $217 million
worldwide on a $60 million budget. However, the sequel's subtitle Never Go Back unintentionally
served as a warning, as it earned a 37 percent Tomatometer score and $159 million worldwide
on a $60 million budget — still profitable but a troubling 27 percent drop. While series
creator Lee Child had nothing but nice things to say about Cruise as a person, he agreed
with readers that the 5-foot-seven-inch Cruise wasn't the right fit for the towering character,
and the series stalled out.
Released in 2014, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was no slow-moving tortoise, earning $485
million worldwide on a $125 million budget. Paramount was feeling confident, so they upped
the budget for 2016's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows to $135 million,
but this time, the turtles only brought $245 million worldwide, a 50 percent drop that
made this over-budgeted followup a box office bomb.
Paramount wasn't going to make the same mistake as New Line Cinema did with the first Turtles
series back in the '90s, and the studio pulled the plug before making a third film. In late
2016, Andrew Form, one of the film's producers, told Collider,
"I don't think there's Turtles 3, but I wouldn't say there's never going to be another Turtles
movie."
In the wake of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films' success, fantasy novels seem
to be as hot a property as comic book adaptations. One of the surefire winners seemed to be Philip
Pullman's His Dark Materials, a grim epic that had everything a fantasy fan could ever
want. There was just one issue: His Dark Materials has a storyline that is unapologetically anti-Catholic.
"That is heresy."
"That is the truth."
New Line Cinema, the studio that had brilliantly guided Lord of the Rings into the record books,
also thought it was a good call to release this anti-religion fable during the Christmas
holiday season, leaving one to wonder if any studio executives had even read what they
were buying. While The Golden Compass film was stripped of the book's anti-religious
themes, its reputation took root and the film was protested by Christian groups. However,
its biggest sin among non-religious moviegoers was that it was just plain bad, with a 42%
Tomatometer score. On an epic $180 million budget, it earned just $70 million domestic
and $372 million worldwide, putting the nail in the film trilogy's coffin.
There have been a lot of James Bond movies - at least 25 - depending what you count as
a “Bond Film.” Sean Connery and Roger Moore played the character seven times, while
Pierce Brosnan portrayed Bond four times - and Daniel Craig’s fifth appearance as 007 is
in No Time To Die. Timothy Dalton was set to get three, an informal trilogy in the larger
series, but only got two. Dalton's third film, what would have been the 18th film in the
official series, never came to pass.
Despite its reputation as a franchise killer, License to Kill made $34 million domestically
and a modestly profitable $156 million worldwide on a $42 million budget. Dalton was all set
to return for his third and final Bond film, which was set to feature a British-Chinese
villain using the threat of nuclear meltdowns to force the British to return Hong Kong to
China. However, legal hangups halted pre-production for years. By 1994, Dalton finally dropped
out. It may have been the best thing for the franchise since Goldeneye made $356 million
worldwide, launching Brosnan's highly successful run as the super spy.
While Speed's pedal-to-the-metal premise powered it to $121 million domestic and $283 million
worldwide on a $30 million budget, star Keanu Reeves passed on the sequel, a decision he
said landed him in "movie jail" with Fox for years.
Reeves' co-star Sandra Bullock returned for Speed 2: Cruise Control, with Jason Patric
replacing Reeves as her supercop boyfriend, and Willem Dafoe giving Speed villain Dennis
Hopper a run for his money as a scenery-chewing bad guy. Alas, Patric was no Reeves, plus
the movie was really, really bad. Speed 2: Cruise Control sank, earning $48 million domestic
and $150 million worldwide on a $110 million budget, a 47% drop from the first film. Reeves
indicated in 2014 he'd be interested in returning for Speed 3, but after the John Wick franchise
took off, Reeves seems to have decided that reprising his roles in The Matrix 4 and Bill
and Ted 3 are a safer bet.
Based on the popular YA book series, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
follows a teenager who discovers he's descended from a Greek god.
"My father's Poseidon."
"God of the seas."
Critics gave it a mediocre 50% Tomatometer score, but its release during the normally
non-competitive February powered the family film to an $88 million domestic, $223 million
worldwide take, a narrow victory on a $95 million budget. Critics were even less impressed
with 2013's Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, striking it down with a 42% Tomatometer score.
Despite shaving $5 million off the first film's budget, Sea of Monsters only managed $68 million
domestically and $200 million worldwide. Even worse, its $14 million opening weekend was
less than half the first film's $31 million, indicating a major drop in audience interest.
Star Logan Lerman told The Independent in 2014 that he'd be happy to return for a third
film, but eventually confirmed in 2020 that Percy Jackson 3 wouldn't be happening. Instead,
the franchise will soon be moving to the small screen, with a television series distributed
by the Disney Plus streaming platform.
While 2006's Silent Hill did okay at the box office, it still only managed an atrocious
31% Tomatometer score. Its earnings were on par for other horror films, bringing in $46
million domestically and $94 million worldwide, but its inexplicably high $50 million budget
put its profitability in doubt. It would be another six years before 2012's Silent Hill:
Revelation 3D arrived to a downright disastrous 20% Tomatometer score.
While Open Road Films wisely spent just $20 million this time, making a sequel six years
after a mediocre first film is rarely a wise decision. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D earned
a mere $17 million domestically and $55 million worldwide, a 42% drop from the first film,
though ironically it was probably more profitable given the much smaller budget. While a trilogy
was never announced, fans held out hope until Silent Hill: Revelation 3D broke their hearts.
Director MJ Bassett even apologized, saying of the sequel,
"It was just a nightmare dance and I couldn’t do it, so I’m very sorry to everyone who
didn’t like the movie."
In 1994, Stargate seamlessly blended science fiction with Egyptian mythology. The film
was a surprising hit, setting a new October opening weekend box office record at the time
with $16 million, eventually earning $71 million domestic and $196 million worldwide. Filmmakers
Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin had originally planned a trilogy of films, with each movie
focusing on a different mythology.
However, instead of continuing with Stargate, the duo parlayed their success into one of
the biggest hits of the '90s with Independence Day. Meanwhile, MGM put the Stargate film
series on hold thanks to the success of the TV series, which started in 1997 with Stargate
SG-1. Twelve years after the original film, Devlin revealed plans for a sequel at 2006's
San Diego Comic-Con, but it would be another eight years before a new Stargate was announced:
this time, as a remake. However, the failure of Independence Day: Resurgence in 2016 killed
any interest in reviving Emmerich and Devlin's other 1990s sci-fi property, and the Stargate
trilogy was officially canceled in 2018.
The Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman franchise broke the opening-weekend record
three times, but neither set of films ever got a proper send-off. Sure, while all four
films are technically part of the same series, they feel like two different franchises, as
each director started strong, but went off the rails in their second film.
After moviegoers rejected each director's second film, neither one got to complete his
trilogy. While Tim Burton never got to the scripting stage on Batman III, rumors circulated
that Michelle Pfeiffer was returning as Catwoman and Robin Williams was set to play the Riddler.
However, after Batman Returns terrified children and dropped 36 percent from Batman's worldwide
gross, Burton was politely asked not to return, and Michael Keaton bailed.
Joel Schumacher brought the series back to its record-breaking ways with Batman Forever
in 1995. Following the film's success, Warner Bros. started planning a third Schumacher
Batman movie before the sequel, Batman & Robin, was even released. However, Batman & Robin's
critical and commercial failure in 1997 put Batman back in the cave for eight years, until
Christopher Nolan rebooted the series yet again with Batman Begins.
Boosted by strong reviews, the 1984 classic comedy-horror hybrid Gremlins became a huge
surprise hit, earning $153 million worldwide to become 1984's fourth highest-grossing movie.
Later in 1990, Gremlins 2: The New Batch earned a respectable amount of critical praise, but
the mogwai magic had worn off, and the film only made $41 million.
The Gremlin franchise was put on ice for decades, but screenwriter Chris Columbus said Gremlins
3 was on its way in 2018 and would be a full reboot. In April 2020, The Hollywood Reporter
reported that a new Gremlins was indeed set to arrive on HBO Max, but would presumably
be a series. So while we do expect there to be more Gremlins in the future, a third film
in the original franchise might never see the light of day.
Austrian bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger was catapulted to worldwide
fame as an action star with 1982's Conan the Barbarian, which earned $38 million domestically
and $79 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.
"Conan, what is best in life?" "
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."
A sequel was pushed into production, yet despite its lower $18 million budget, Conan the Destroyer
proved Conan was a one-hit wonder, bombing with $26 million worldwide in the summer of
1984.
The Terminator became a massive hit just a few months later, making Schwarzenegger one
of the biggest stars of the '80s. After Terminator, Schwarzenegger passed on making Conan 3, but
a few decades later, the former Governor of California sought to make The Legend of Conan,
playing the barbarian as an aged king. When that project died a grisly death, an Amazon
series was announced, but that was also scrapped, with Arnold claiming the rights holders were
the issue. While screenwriter Chris Morgan hoped to breathe new life into Conan 3, the
poor box office performance of Terminator: Dark Fate stalled any hope for Schwarzenegger
nostalgia projects.
"I won't be back."
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