It's hard enough to make one successful movie, let alone three. So it's no surprise that many would-be trilogies never see that third installment. Here are some that died on the vine.
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00:00It's hard enough to make one successful movie, let alone three, so it's no surprise
00:05that many would-be trilogies never see that third installment.
00:09Here are some that died on the vine.
00:12The first Spider-Man sent the comic book movie renaissance into overdrive in 2002, when it
00:16became the first film to earn more than $100 million in a single weekend.
00:22Spider-Man 2 continued the trend, and while 2007's Spider-Man 3 ended the first series
00:27with a creative whimper, the Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films still earned more
00:31than $2.5 billion worldwide.
00:35Sony rebooted the series in 2012, this time with Andrew Garfield in the tights and Mark
00:39Webb in the director's chair for The Amazing Spider-Man.
00:42The box office results were solid, and the reviews were strong.
00:45So before a sequel was released, Sony announced a third and fourth film, as well as spinoffs
00:50Sinister Six and Venom, effectively launching a Spidey cinematic universe.
00:55The Amazing Spider-Man 2 arrived in 2014, but despite earning $708 million worldwide
01:01on a $200 million budget, the horrible reviews meant Spidey was headed in the wrong direction.
01:06He's a menace to the entire city!
01:09I want that wall-crawling arachnid prosecuted!
01:12I want him strung up by his web!
01:15Luckily, Disney swooped in and brought the web-spinner, now played by Tom Holland, back
01:18to his record-breaking ways in the MCU, while Sony scored a huge hit with Venom and won
01:23an Oscar with Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse.
01:26And while The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was squished, Garfield's version of the character got a
01:30conclusion of sorts to his story in 2021's MCU-set multiverse adventure Spider-Man No
01:35Way Home.
01:37Despite their popularity, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles haven't had box office staying
01:41power.
01:42I can get it back!
01:43I can get it back!
01:44Rafael, let it go.
01:46The first film trilogy started strong when 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles earned
01:50$202 million worldwide on a $13.5 million budget.
01:55However, 1991's TMNT 2, The Secret of the Ooze, dropped 62% to $78 million worldwide,
02:03while the third film took a shellacking at the box office in 1993, earning just $42 million
02:09on a $21 million budget.
02:11As a result, America's favorite talking, karate-chopping terrapins went on a 21-year hiatus from live-action
02:18big-screen adventures.
02:20But following the enormous success of the Transformers films, Paramount saw the possibility
02:24of big bucks in movies based on other characters from super-popular 80s toy lines and TV shows,
02:29and decided to give the reptiles another chance.
02:32Released in 2014, TMNT earned $485 million worldwide on a $125 million budget.
02:41Paramount was feeling confident, so they upped the budget for 2016's TMNT Out of the Shadows
02:46to $135 million.
02:49But this time, the film saw a 50% drop that made this over-budgeted follow-up a box office
02:54bomb.
02:55We're turtles, whether you like it or not.
02:58Paramount wasn't going to make the same mistake New Line Cinema did with the first series,
03:02so they pulled the plug on the third film.
03:04In late 2016, producer Andrew Form told Collider,
03:07"...I don't think there's Turtles 3, but I wouldn't say there's never going to be another
03:11Turtles movie."
03:12And he was right.
03:13Going back to the franchise's animated screen roots, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant
03:17Mayhem arrived in 2023 to solid box office and critical acclaim.
03:22Independence Day was one of the seminal summer movies of the 1990s.
03:26It blew up to box office in the summer of 1996, becoming the highest-grossing movie
03:30of the year.
03:31When a movie makes that much money, especially on a modest $75 million budget, it usually
03:36means sequels.
03:38Lots of them.
03:39But a funny thing happened on the way to outer space.
03:41Summer after summer, big movies came and went, but an Independence Day sequel never
03:46materialized.
03:47But 2015 was the year of nostalgia, as its two biggest blockbusters were long-awaited
03:55sequels to franchises from the past, Star Wars The Force Awakens and Jurassic World.
04:00Based on the success of those films, Fox figured that Independence Day Resurgence would be
04:04the next sequel to rule the summer.
04:12Boy were they wrong.
04:14There were a few problems.
04:16One, Resurgence didn't feature original star Will Smith, who opted not to return and had
04:21his character killed off.
04:22Second, this film wasn't just bad, it was really weird.
04:27Consequently, Independence Day Resurgence seriously underwhelmed with $384 million worldwide
04:33on a $165 million budget, an alarming 53% drop that's even more startling considering
04:39the 20-year difference in ticket price inflation.
04:42Clearly, moviegoers were over the series.
04:45And given that the Disney-Fox merger shook up all of Fox's slate, there's no way Independence
04:50Day 3 will ever happen.
04:53Before 1985's mega-hit Back to the Future, director Robert Zemeckis took the romantic-comedy-action-adventure
04:58hybrid nobody wanted and turned it into a major hit.
05:10Romancing the Stone had a modest $10 million budget, but made $75 million domestically
05:15and $115 million worldwide.
05:18The spring 1984 release wasn't just Fox's biggest hit of the year, it was their only
05:24hit.
05:25So naturally, they wanted to rush a sequel.
05:27The only problem?
05:28Actors Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner didn't want to do it, but Fox exercised its
05:32sequel option and threatened to sue Turner for $25 million if she backed out.
05:37The troubled production didn't improve anyone's mood, either.
05:40The Jewel of the Nile miraculously made it to theaters 19 months after Stone, but only
05:45made $68 million worldwide.
05:48A proposed third film, The Crimson Eagle, wasn't a high priority for anyone at the
05:52time, though Douglas did drop out of 1997's U-571 a decade later to return for a sequel
05:59that never happened.
06:00In 2008, a new sequel, Chasing the Monsoon, was announced, with Douglas' wife Catherine
06:04Zeta-Jones replacing Turner.
06:06That project quickly became a remake instead, potentially starring Gerard Butler and Katherine
06:11Heigl.
06:12But in 2011, it was shelled for a TV series.
06:15With no news since, it's safe to say this romance is dead.
06:19Saturday Night Live alum Rob Schneider had a solid career in Hollywood as Adam Sandler's
06:23friend for nearly ten years when he graduated to above-the-title status with Deuce Bigelow
06:28male Gigolo.
06:29I don't have a set price or anything, but I have been getting $10.
06:33Its 22 percent Tomatometer score didn't scream Citizen Kane, but it made more money than
06:38anyone expected, earning $92 million worldwide on an $18 million budget.
06:43While Schneider continued to play scene-stealing backup roles for his A-list superstar friend,
06:48he got to be the center of attention in 2001's The Animal and 2002's The Hot Chick.
06:53It wasn't until 2005 that Schneider returned to his signature role for Deuce Bigelow European
06:58Gigolo, but after six years, the audience had moved on.
07:01Besides its atrocious 9 percent Tomatometer score, Deuce Bigelow European Gigolo earned
07:07a thin profit at best.
07:09Still, with moviegoers' nostalgia for characters they grew up loving, might we see Deuce Bigelow
07:14saves Christmas, goes to camp, versus Kong?
07:18Not with Rob Schneider.
07:19In 2008, Schneider told Movies.ie,
07:22I'd love to do a third Bigelow movie.
07:24The only reason why I did the second one is because everyone was asking for it, but it
07:28notably failed.
07:29But by 2013, Schneider had changed his tune, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
07:33You're not gonna see another Deuce Bigelow out of me.
07:36A Gigolo without Schneider is no Bigelow.
07:39There are actually two Adam Sandlers.
07:42One is the gifted actor of punch-drunk love and uncut gems.
07:45The other is, well, Adam Sandler.
07:47Alas, most of Sandler's $5.5 billion in worldwide grosses have come from his comedies,
07:53which is why there are so many.
07:55Take the Grown Ups series, Sandler's Hanging Out With His Friends franchise, co-starring
07:59Kevin James, Chris Ruck, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Salma Hayek as Sandler's wife.
08:05Grown Ups earned $272 million worldwide in 2010, and Grown Ups 2 made $247 million in
08:13making it Sandler's highest-grossing franchise besides Hotel Transylvania.
08:17Even with that much talent ballooning the budgets up to $70 to $80 million, such profits
08:23usually spell sequels, yet we've gotten none.
08:26We're irrelevant.
08:27We're losers.
08:28We're old.
08:29And given that Sandler is busy making Netflix films and critically acclaimed movies, we
08:34think he may finally be too grown up for Grown Ups 3.
08:38Hollywood has had a love affair with pre-existing properties for decades.
08:43But in 1991, a big-screen adaptation of The Addams Family, based on the Charles Addams
08:47comic strip and the 1960s TV show, seemed altogether ooky.
08:52That's odd.
08:53What's odd, dear?
08:54I didn't know Cousin Imar wore turtleneck sweaters.
08:58Powered by the iconic main musical theme and pitch-perfect casting, Angelica Houston as
09:03Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, and Christina Ricci
09:08as Wednesday, The Addams Family earned a staggering $191 million worldwide on a $30
09:14million budget.
09:15I would die for her.
09:18I would kill for her.
09:21Either way went bliss.
09:23A sequel was inevitable, and while 1993's Addams Family Values has been candy-coated
09:28by the sweet nectar of nostalgia, there's no denying that it bombed hard.
09:34With $46 million worldwide on a $47 million budget, Addams Family Values killed the franchise,
09:41further cemented by Julia's tragic death less than a year later.
09:44Yet in 1998, Warner Bros. attempted a strange spiritual follow-up in Addams Family Reunion,
09:50which tried to capitalize on the previous film's goodwill with a murky attempt at continuity,
09:54albeit a different cast.
09:56The film was meant to launch a new Addams Family TV show, but with such a creative catastrophe
10:01that the studio released it straight to video and promptly buried it.
10:05It would be more than 20 years before the Addams Family would be rebooted as an animated
10:09film in 2019.
10:10Don't catch your eyes on my crew unless you're ready to dance.
10:14Given the success of that film and its 2021 sequel, and especially the massive success
10:20of Netflix's spinoff series Wednesday, we can confidently say a true Addams Family 3
10:25is dead.
10:27Despite winning an Oscar for Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. seemed unsatisfied with
10:31supporting parts in Prestige Pictures and is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
10:35But we're worried about him playing Victor Von Doom, especially with the Doctor Doom
10:40theory that explains how Downey's casting is just Marvel's backdoor attempt to bring
10:44back Iron Man.
10:45If Downey wants to return to a franchise, especially after the massive failure of would-be
10:50blockbuster Doolittle, might we suggest the other eccentric genius in his oeuvre, Sherlock
10:55Holmes?
10:56The 2009 original earned $498 million worldwide on a $90 million budget, despite facing stiff
11:03holiday season competition against a little movie called Avatar.
11:07The 2011 sequel Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows fared even better, with $535 million
11:13worldwide on a $125 million budget.
11:17Sherlock Holmes 3 seemed elementary, yet nothing has happened in more than a decade.
11:21When the third film's would-be director, Dexter Fletcher, was asked by CinemaBlend
11:25in 2023 if any progress has been made, he said no, adding that the script was brilliant
11:30but blaming COVID-19 and Downey's busy schedule for the delay.
11:34In June 2024, Downey's wife and producing partner Susan Downey told ScreenRant that
11:38Sherlock Holmes 3 was, quote, "...still very much alive in our hearts."
11:42Which, as Hollywood producers speak for, it ain't happening anytime soon.
11:46Given Downey Jr.'s return to the MCU was announced one month later, we suspect this
11:50case is closed.
11:52Conclusion inevitable
11:54Shazam earned a respectable $363 million worldwide on a shockingly modest $85 million budget,
12:01but it got obliterated in its fourth weekend by a little pic called Avengers Endgame, which
12:06remains the biggest opening weekend record holder of all time.
12:09I applaud your choices today.
12:12Gold shoes, gold belt, white cake.
12:14It shouldn't work, but hot damn it does!
12:18Still, that kind of profit is hard to sneeze at, so a sequel seemed forthcoming faster
12:22than you can say Shazam.
12:24But then a pretty big rock got in the way.
12:26Make that The Rock.
12:28Dwayne Johnson believed Black Adam, the D-list character he wanted to play for more than
12:32a decade, should be the new centerpiece of the DC Extended Universe, as evidenced by
12:37statements like this one.
12:39The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change.
12:44He wasn't just talking about the movies.
12:47Black Adam was technically in Shazam's rogues gallery, but Johnson wanted his anti-hero
12:51to battle DC's biggest babyface, Superman.
12:54According to Johnson, this super-powered showdown wound up getting scrapped due to business,
12:59which is an ego-preserving way of saying Black Adam bombed with $390 million worldwide on
13:04a $200 million budget.
13:06If, Adam, we know who you are and what you are capable of, there's no place for you
13:12in the world of man.
13:15Ironically, Black Adam out-earned Shazam, but at more than twice the price, it was a
13:19financial failure.
13:21Shazam Theory of the Gods was the innocent victim in all this, as the 2023 film barely
13:25earned back its budget.
13:27With James Gunn rebooting the entire DC Cinematic Slate, we can all but guarantee there won't
13:31be a Shazam 3.
13:34How many franchises has Martin Scorsese made in his 50-plus year career?
13:38Answer?
13:39None.
13:40Scorsese directed 1986's The Color of Money, a sequel to Robert Rossin's 1961 film The
13:45Hustler, but as far as sequels to his own work?
13:48Zero.
13:49Zilch.
13:50Nada.
13:51That could have changed with 2006's The Departed, which remains Scorsese's biggest domestic
13:56hit, his third biggest worldwide hit, and his only film to win Oscars for Best Picture
14:01and Best Director.
14:02If Warner Bros. had its way, it also would have been his only movie to get a sequel,
14:07as the studio was eager for one.
14:10While there's no official word on how many sequels Warner Bros. wanted, The Departed
14:13is a Beantown-based remake of the Hong Kong-set Infernal Affairs trilogy, so three films sounds
14:18reasonable.
14:19Andy Lau appeared in both Infernal Affairs sequels, but his counterpart in Scorsese's
14:23crime epic, Matt Damon's Colin Sullivan, gets killed, which the studio wasn't happy
14:29about.
14:30Scorsese rejected a sequel idea from screenwriter William Monaghan, while Mark Wahlberg and
14:34Monaghan also pitched a sequel for Wahlberg's character, the sole survivor of The Departed.
14:39Where's your brother?
14:40Uh, she's on her way out.
14:43You all are.
14:44Act accordingly.
14:45Despite featuring Wahlberg's return to his Oscar-nominated role, Warner Bros. rejected
14:49the project because Monaghan didn't have a plot nailed down.
14:53After nearly 20 years of attempts as dead as the main characters, it sounds like any
14:57hope for a franchise is, well, dearly departed.