Home Featured Content

Top 10 Movie Franchises That Need To Die

Life isn’t fair. We exist in a movie world where our most desired sequels fester in obscurity for years before seeing the light of day (sometimes never at all) but where cookie-cutter schlock is pumped out ad nauseam. But don’t call me naïve; it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why this is. To quote Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko “what’s worth doing is worth doing for money.”

1. Resident Evil

Recommended Videos

Why it was good: As far as video game adaptations go, the original Resident Evil is sadly one of the better ones – shame on you Hollywood! Its follow-up Resident Evil: Apocalypse also has its enjoyably campy moments and fun action set pieces, (being a sucker for zombie flicks myself didn’t help either). Also not helping to abate my admitted approval of the first two movies is the presence of Mila Jovovich, who puts the sexy in sexy-as-hell-mutant.

The turning point:  The “Resident Evil” saga was never very loyal to the games, merely opting to toss in familiar characters rather than actually attempting to adapt the mood and style of the game. The scope of the setting continued to balloon (moving from a house, to a city, to a desert, to the entire world), the subplots multiplied and the scripts grew from increasingly convoluted to borderline incoherent. By number three, even Jovovich was proving unable to instil excitement in me at the thought of another entry.

Why it needs to die: Sharp 3D in Resident Evil: Afterlife did little to cushion the thud that was the sound of Paul W.S. Anderson dropping the ball story-wise. The lack of giddiness brought on by the addition of fan-favourite villain Albert Wesker just proved to show how little the franchise had to offer. We don’t get very many action heroines these days and sadly I have two of the most popular ones on this list. So let’s extricate these badass ladies from these lifeless franchises and give them foes worth fighting. Plus, I’m frankly tired of having to look up which subtitle goes with which instalment of this series.

So, there you have it, 10 franchises that need to die. If for some odd reason you’re still hoping to see Ice Age: Continental Drift in theatres this weekend, the trailer below may have you re-thinking that decision.

As always, head down to the comments below and let us know what you think of our choices.

[Sorry, this video is currently unavailable]