21 Movies That Were Supposed to Start Franchises But Failed

Making a single well-crafted, standalone movie seems to be both impossible and an abject failure these days. Everything must set up a potential franchise because asking Hollywood executives to take a risk on an original idea is like asking them to walk through fire or hug their children. Whether it’s based on existing intellectual property originally released in serial form or the ending just leaves room for a sequel, closure is verboten.

But not all intended franchise mothers live up to their potential. Sometimes they’re perfectly good movies that just didn’t make the required bank or find their audience in time, and sometimes they’re such turds that people would rather pull out their rectums with their toenails than sit through four more installments. Whatever the case, when user Zdvj asked r/AskReddit, “What movie was meant to set up the next big franchise only for the first film to spectacularly fail?” Reddit had stories to tell.