For the longest time Hollywood had no idea how to make Predator a franchise. Predator 2 shook things up but wasn’t appreciated at the time and put the whole IP on ice for over a decade. Then there was Ghostbusters II, which many felt replicated the first film too much and too often and it, too, put its overarching IP on ice for a long time. Two and a half decades, in that case. But then we got Dan Trachtenberg taking over Predator and showing not once but three times that an established formula can be altered as long as it does something new while also showing an impressive focus on character. And, while Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire haven’t been as successful as Trachtenberg’s trio of Yautja movies, they have managed to reinvigorate some audience interest in an IP thought entirely past its prime.
The point is, you never know when one of your favorite franchises is really done for good these days. Cite it as Hollywood unoriginality if you like, but these days legacy sequels are all the rage, and every now and then one of them really knocks the task out of the park. But the following five franchises? Hollywood most definitely seems to know how to take them forward. The question is, do they even need to be continued or are some things left as products of their time?
5) Pirates of the Caribbean
The issue with Pirates of the Caribbean comes down to a single star: Johnny Depp. The world built by Gore Verbinski in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was engrossing, and its balance of humor, action and fantasy was a winning one, but the reason Pirates became a billion-dollar franchise was Captain Jack Sparrow. And, of course, the reason Captain Jack became an icon was Depp.
However, Depp’s marriage to Amber Heard ate up tabloid headlines for quite some time, and it’s still too early to say whether general audiences are ready to see him as a movie star again. Could Pirates move on without him? That’s as unknowable currently as Depp’s status as a star who gets butts in seats. But the answer is likely yes. There was a rumor floating around for a decent chunk of time that a reboot could have been led by Margot Robbie. One could imagine that working. The high seas are expansive and not entirely owned by Sparrow. It comes down to whether an actor could come around who would be able to make as ingenious an invention as Depp’s note-perfect concoction (well, note-perfect in the first three movies, anyway).
Stream all five Pirates of the Caribbean movies on Disney+.
4) Star Trek’s Kelvin Timeline
Paramount is officially moving on from Star Trek’s Kelvin Timeline. And that’s a shame because it really did pull off something. It took the IP and made movies that appealed even to those who typically hissed at the thought of watching a Star Trek movie front to back.
But it’s also not entirely surprising the Kelvin Timeline was put on the backburner so long. The three movies may have appealed to both fans an general audiences alike, but they weren’t exactly Star Wars level smash hits. Star Trek made $385.7 million in 2009, Star Trek Into Darkness made $467.4 million in 2013, and Star Trek Beyond made $343.5 million in 2016. There was clearly a ceiling here. And while Trek is still doing well on the small screen, it makes one wonder just how well a new theatrical initiative can go. Perhaps if they can find some way to incorporate the Kelvin Timeline cast in an X-Men: Days of Future Past-type film it could serve as a nice bridge from the somewhat old to the brand new while also giving some closure to those who loved the 2009 movie.
Stream all three Star Trek Kelvin Timeline movies on Paramount+.
3) The Wizarding World
The Harry Potter films were a genuine phenomenon for eight straight movies, released throughout a period of 11 years. Then Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out five years after Harry, Hermoine, and Ron packed their bags and showed that there was potential for the Wizarding World itself to be a financially viable cinematic property even without them.
But that was short-lived. Fantastic Beasts didn’t hook enough people based on its own merits and its two sequels experienced massive drops from the 2016 film, which was in and of itself a drop from Potter at its peak. It was a drop from all of them if factoring in inflation. So now we have HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter, which is essentially looking to redo what the movies already did as well as anyone can imagine. It’s a way to extend the franchise’s relevance, without a doubt, but as movies it seems tough for the Wizarding World to move on from here. If the show is a hit maybe it will crossover to big screen terrain à la The Mandalorian for its rendition of The Deathly Hallows.
Stream every Wizarding World movie on HBO Max.
2) The Matrix
The Wachowskis’ The Matrix franchise was the victim of the high bar the first entry set. When The Matrix Reloaded came out in 2003 there was a massive amount of hype, considering just how strong their 1999 classic was, but it fell far short. The impact of its drop in quality was seen almost immediately, as The Matrix Revolutions debuted just six months later and saw a massive drop in revenue from Reloaded. It was also a trilogy-capper that killed off two of the three lead characters, seemingly ending the war against the machines for good. But then The Matrix Resurrections came out 18 years later and it was…not quite what the fans were hoping for.
Then again, it’s not clear if there was even much of a fanbase left. Unlike the surge in interest experienced by Reloaded, there wasn’t much of a reaction to Resurrections from moment one. Even with Lana Wachowski in the director’s chair it felt like a horse of a different color, and it’s mostly been forgotten throughout the four years between its release and now. In April 2024 it was announced that Drew Goddard would be writing and directing a new installment with Lana staying on as executive producer. That movie is in its early stages but considering just how talented The Cabin in the Woods and Bad Times at the El Royale‘s Goddard is, it could be the fresh injection of new blood the franchise needs. It will be interesting to see if Goddard’s movie, should it happen, continues with Neo and Trinity. While Keanu Reeves is on a hot streak right now, The Matrix established such a massive world that maybe it would be best to go down some Neo-free avenues to flesh it all out.
1) The Terminator
James Cameron’s The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day stand as two monumental entries in mainstream sci-fi Hollywood history. And, ever since those films, others have tried to enter the fold to replicate their success. The ways they’ve gone about doing so vary considerably.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is essentially a replica of Terminator 2‘s template (and it’s really the template the franchise has been keen on incorporating even more than what was seen in the first film). It did well enough, but was neither a box office nor a critical smash. Even still, it did better than Terminator Salvation, which was basically a watered-down PG-13 war film with cyborgs, Terminator Genisys, and Terminator: Dark Fate. Genisys was far too comedic and, like Salvation, watered down while Dark Fate, the best film since Terminator 2, suffered because audiences felt they had seen it all before. Which, admittedly, they had. The simple truth is the novelty has worn off when it comes to seeing robots with human skin covering their true shiny selves. It worked twice with Cameron as the captain of the ship, but it seems unlikely that particular magic will ever be replicated. We got two films that pushed the industry forward, especially Terminator 2 with its then-revolutionary visual effects. Perhaps that just needs to be enough.
What other movie franchises do you think Hollywood is struggling to find a place for? Let us know in the comments.
