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Modern cinema has evolved in many ways, but one of the most prominent is the dominance of franchises in the current cinematic landscape. The big screen has provided audiences with countless classic stories over the years, with the very best movies immortalized in pop culture and society’s wider consciousness. The most popular often spawn sequels that continue their story and expand the world of the original, eventually leading to the establishment of movie franchises. The very best movie franchises often run for many years, consistently enticing audiences back with the kind of sprawling stories that can only be told across multiple movies.
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Making movies is an expensive endeavor, and if films perform poorly, they typically aren’t given the go-ahead for sequels. This means that bad movies can often be responsible for ending or significantly weakening franchises, even when that franchise seems untouchable. For every dead movie franchise, there’s a failure that can usually be traced back to a single moment, with certain scenes demonstrating how quickly fate can turn on even the most major movie franchises.
10) “Somehow… Palpatine Returned.” – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Star Wars is often considered one of the most rewatchable sci-fi movie franchises of all time, but for many, the ninth installment in its Skywalker Saga was considered a step too far. The final movie in the franchise’s sequel trilogy had a tough task ahead, especially after the backlash faced by its predecessor, The Last Jedi. Unfortunately, The Rise of Skywalker sealed the sequels’ fate early on.
Only a short way into the movie, it establishes that the threat of former Emperor Palpatine had endured beyond his death in Return of the Jedi. The plot point was already ridiculous enough, but the movie’s explanation came by way of the horrendously terrible line: “somehow… Palpatine returned”. It’s a moment that ended most fans’ interest in the sequel movies and the Skywalker Saga for good, and it ultimately saw the Star Wars franchise pivot heavily away from the characters featured in the sequel movies to return to its roots.
9) “My Name Is Trevor.” – Iron Man 3 (2013)
The MCU is a franchise that, in many ways, seems to have gone from strength to strength since its inception. However, one of the most important MCU movie twists, which came in Iron Man 3, almost derailed the franchise entirely. The movie sees Iron Man tracking the international terrorist known as the Mandarin, locating him, and coming face to face with the villain… only to learn he’s nothing more than an actor.
Ben Kingsley’s delivery of the line became a mocking cry used to harshly criticize the MCU, and it seemed at one point that the backlash could end the franchise. In a sense, it did, as the shared universe has markedly shied away from ever delivering such a major bombshell in such a ridiculous way since. Remembered as a Marvel movie plot twist so bad it’s hilarious, the moment ended the MCU’s reckless use of the source material, ushering in a new era of more careful use of its comic book inspiration.
8) The Rhino’s Return – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s status as a once-maligned Marvel movie that has since been more favorably reappraised is a tragic tale. The negative reaction from fans regarding certain aspects of the movie ultimately saw Andrew Garfield’s chance at remaining in the role disappear, leading to Spidey’s MCU debut in 2016. Pinning down a single moment that ended the Amazing Spider-Man franchise isn’t difficult, as it’s the final scene of the two-film arc, and features one of the most infamous depictions of a Spider-Man movie villain.
Early in the movie, Spider-Man takes down Aleksei Sytsevich, a Russian criminal known by comic book fans as the villain the Rhino. That scene alone served as a fun nod to one of the hero’s comic book antagonists, and no immediate follow-up seemed necessary. The movie’s final scene brought Aleksei back, though, this time armed in a mech suit with vaguely rhino-esque traits. On the one hand, it was a shameless sequel tease and a needless callback to the beginning of the movie, and on the other, a frustrating hint at a great action scene that wasn’t shown. Either way, the negative reaction to the movie and its ending was enough to kill the franchise on the spot.
7) The CGI Baby – Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I (2011)
Upon the release of the first movie, the Twilight franchise gripped audiences around the world. The release of its sequels only continued that trend, with a vampire frenzy sweeping across Hollywood in the years that followed. While the Twilight franchise always had its detractors, there was one moment that turned all but the most dedicated fans off of the fantasy movies.
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I saw the birth of Bella and Edward’s baby, Renesmee. While Twilight fans could forgive the ridiculous name, many found it difficult to get past the uncanny use of CGI to bring the infant to life. For many, it robbed the moment of any potential emotional impact, and it marked the beginning of the end as one of the worst Twilight movie franchise moments, killing it by alienating part of its core audience.
6) Kevin’s Dance Scene –Ghostbusters (2016)
The 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters was divisive even before its release, and the movie itself failed to win many fans around. It lacked much of what made the franchise great, particularly as it focused on all-new characters that fans simply weren’t invested in. Intended to start a new version of the franchise, the film fell at the first hurdle.
Narrowing its failure down to a single moment isn’t easy, but the scene that stands out was all but deleted from the finished movie. A scene in which a possessed Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) leads a bizarre dance mob consisting of NYPD officers was instead used briefly in the movie’s closing credits. It was later revealed that the scene was one of the movie’s most expensive, and that level of financial recklessness, combined with the generally unimpressive movie, was enough to kill the planned reboot franchise.
5) The Flash Falls On Wonder Woman – Justice League (2017)
The DCEU is a franchise once known as the Snyderverse, though that really only covers the early movies of the now-dead continuity. Zack Snyder’s vision began to pay off in Justice League, although the director’s exit and Joss Whedon’s subsequent reshoots utterly derailed the movie’s chances of success. No single scene better exhibits the jarring differences between the two directors’ styles than that in which the Flash falls face-first into Wonder Woman’s chest.
In fairness, the DCEU went on to feature several other moments that helped it along the way to its eventual death. However, the Justice League moment stands out as one that began its downward spiral, as it was the first that really dragged the franchise away from Snyder’s vision and onto an ill-advised, vaguely comedic track. Not only was the moment not funny at all, but it also demonstrated the end of Snyder’s plans, sealing the DCEU’s fate years before it was officially ended.
4) Peter Parker’s Jazz Club Dance – Spider-Man 3 (2007)
At one stage, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies were the gold standard for Hollywood superhero films. The release of Spider-Man 3 in 2007 changed that, as reactions to the movie were considerably less positive than they had been to its predecessors. The movie features many missteps, but by far the worst is the jazz club scene, which sees a symbiote-influenced Peter Parker performing a bizarre dance sequence.
The execution of the scene is simply too cringeworthy for it to work. It was so widely ridiculed that it ended any chance of Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 happening, ending his franchise and eventually leading to the equally ill-fated Amazing Spider-Man reboot. The moment is still laughed about today, and stands out as the worst moment in all three of Raimi’s Spider-Man movies.
3) Mutt Swinging Through the Jungle – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
There aren’t many movie franchises that went from iconic to abysmal as quickly as the Indiana Jones franchise. The first three films released earned considerable success and are still celebrated as cinematically excellent. The fourth movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was widely lambasted for the way it continued the franchise.
One scene in particular, featuring Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt Williams swinging on vines through the jungle alongside an army of monkeys, stands out as perhaps the movie’s worst of all. Poor CGI can be forgiven, and elements of Crystal Skull‘s story have aged better than expected, but that one scene exemplifies everything wrong with the movie. It was bad enough to kill the franchise for 15 years, causing significant doubts about Indiana Jones‘ future and prompting the sequel to effectively disown almost every aspect of its story.
2) Nick Gets Intimate With Ahmanet – The Mummy (2017)
Universal’s Dark Universe franchise is a complicated beast, as many still hope the planned continuity will be properly established. 2017’s The Mummy was intended to start a shared universe featuring multiple classic movie monsters, but the Tom Cruise film was panned upon release. There are several scenes that stand out as especially poor, but arguably the one that sealed the franchise’s fate was that in which Cruise’s Nick is shown getting intimate with the titular monster.
Even considering the pedigree of Universal’s monsters on the big screen, a scene in which Tom Cruise is sexually tempted by an undead being was enough to drive audiences away. It was an incredibly bizarre moment, made worse by the movie’s supporting cast watching on in the background. It was perhaps the worst moment in a generally terrible film, and it was enough to kill the revived franchise before it ever really got up and running.
1) The Bat Credit Card – Batman & Robin (1997)
There are many criticisms of Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies, and some of them are a little harsh. However, it can’t be denied that they killed the Batman franchise that started with Tim Burton’s 1989 movie, with Batman & Robin ending the iconic hero’s cinematic story for almost a full decade. The movie is filled with terrible moments, but the one that stands out the most is Batman flashing his Bat credit card to the camera.
Coming as it does during a scene where Batman and Robin are competing to win an auction for Poison Ivy’s company, it’s both in poor taste and absolutely nonsensical. The intention of the moment is almost impossible to discern, and it instead stands out as the precise second that the franchise completely lost its grip on its central character. In the case of Batman & Robin, it’s probably for the best that the franchise ended, but the Bat credit card is still the worst single moment in the entire ill-conceived film.
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