7 Movie & TV Franchise Attempts That Failed Twice

There were some movie and TV franchises that, despite multiple attempts, still could not manage to find success and ended up as disappointing failures. Over the years, there have been plenty of failed properties that film and television studios can’t help but greenlight adaptations of, and, low and behold, they ended up failing once again. These could be characters or concepts that have already proved their success in the world of comic books, theme park rides, or video games, and, due to their perceived popularity, were allowed to fail not just once, but just twice.

While Disney was able to find massive success through film adaptations of Disney’s well-known theme park rides, this did not work every time, and they have now been unsuccessful on two separate occasions to adapt The Haunted Mansion into a franchise. Despite superhero teams being one of the biggest box office draws through movies like The Avengers and The Guardians of the Galaxy, the same cannot be said of the twice-failed Fantastic Four. It’s a disappointing reality that not every attempt at a franchise can work, and these were the ones that managed to fail twice.

7
The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion (2003) & Haunted Mansion (2023)

The Haunted Mansion has always been one of Disney’s best-known theme park attractions, however, unlike the highly successful Pirates of the Caribbean series, which was also based on a ride, it has failed twice to turn itself into a franchise. The first attempt to adapt the ride for the big screen came in 2003 with the release of The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy. Despite doing well at the box office, The Haunted Mansion was a critical failure that, as a horror comedy, failed on both fronts by being neither scary nor funny.

Disney decided to try again in 2023 and rebooted the franchise entirely with the release of Haunted Mansion, another supernatural horror comedy that, while an improvement over its predecessor, repeated many of the same issues as the earlier version. The star-studded cast of Haunted Mansion, which included Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, and Danny DeVito, sadly could not make up for its lackluster script. A disappointing waster or serious potential, no plans have been made for a sequel and it appeared the doomed franchise potential of Haunted Mansion was dead to rights.

6
Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four (2005) & Fantastic Four (2015)

Despite the major success of other Marvel superhero groups like The Avengers or The Guardians of the Galaxy, The Fantastic Four has yet to find its footing as an ongoing film franchise. With two disappointing adaptations already released, The Fantastic Four have been a notably difficult property to get right, despite being beloved for generations in the comic books. While there have been a number of Fantastic Four movies, it never quite managed to find an audience in the way that other superhero movies did.

The first Fantastic Four film was released in 2005, and despite mixed reviews was a box office success that warranted a sequel called Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007, which failed to connect with critics or viewers. The series was rebooted once again in 2015 with the release of Fantastic Four, which bombed at the box office leading to its planned sequel being cancelled. The 2015 version of Fantastic Four attempted a darker, more gritty style and was dubbed by some as the worst Marvel movie ever.

5
Resident Evil

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) & Resident Evil (2022)

The Resident Evil video game franchise has seen consistent success and acclaim since it first debuted in 1996, however, the same cannot be said for the franchise for film and television. While the original Resident Evil film franchise was relatively successful and had six releases between 2002 and 2016, the horror series was rebooted in 2021 with the release of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which by all accounts was a major disappointment. A box office dud, Welcome to Raccoon City was a dull adaptation of the games that lacked compelling characters and no follow-up movie was ever released.

Shortly after the failure of Welcome to Racoon City the series was rebooted as a television series by Netflix in 2022 that was simply titled Resident Evil. Once again, the horror series failed to register with audiences or critics, and Resident Evil was swiftly canceled after one disappointing season. While Resident Evil was the highest-grossing horror video game franchise ever, it has yet to be given the perfect adaptation treatment for either film or television that would allow it to truly excel as a franchise.

4
G.I. Joe

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) & G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

Despite its history as an iconic Hasbro action figure and a long legacy within comic books and television, G.I. Joe has twice failed to turn itself into an ongoing film franchise. The first live-action movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra came out in 2009 and, despite mostly negative reviews from critics, grossed over $300 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo), and even received a sequel called G.I. Joe: Retaliation in 2013. However, despite reports of another movie being in the works, a third G.I. Joe film never got off the ground.

Instead, the series was rebooted in 2021 with the release of Snake Eyes, which received negative reviews and grossed just $40 million against its budgets of between $88 and $110 million (via Box Office Mojo), making it a severe box office bomb. This failure once again killed the attempt to turn G.I. Joe into a successful ongoing franchise and there have been no new releases in the series since. However, plans are being made to release a Transformers and G.I. Joe crossover movie.

3
Tomb Raider

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) & Tomb Raider (2018)

The Tomb Raider video game series was a pop culture phenomenon that turned its main character Lara Craft into a gaming icon in the 1990s, and before long, plans were made for a film version. The first adaptation, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was released in 2001 and starred Angelina Jolie and was a major box office success. It was soon followed by Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life in 2003, which could have been the star of a major ongoing franchise. However, Jolie decided not to return for a third film and, despite its success, it never became a franchise.

In 2018, a new Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander was released, which served as an attempt to reboot the series entirely. Despite a mixed critical reception, Tomb Raider was a hit at the box office and plans were made for a sequel with Vikander returning, however, it was canceled in 2022 after MGM’s rights to a Tomb Raider sequel expired (via The Wrap.) A third Tomb Raider reboot has now been announced by Amazon, who are hedging their bets that third times the charm for the movie franchise potential of the Tomb Raider series.

2
Ghostbusters

Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) & Ghostbusters (2016)

The original Ghostbusters was the inception point of a multi-billion-dollar franchise, but, despite its success, it has still had some false starts and disappointing failures. While the original two movies were successful and there was even a beloved animated spin-off series called The Real Ghostbusters, the franchise has also seen two major failures through both television and feature film. A 1997 animated series called Extreme Ghostbusters failed to connect with viewers and the 2016 all-female reboot movie Ghostbusters was a major box office bomb and one of the most devisive films of the year.

Extreme Ghostbusters attempted to follow up on the success of The Real Ghostbusters and followed the same characters several years after the original series, with a new team at the helm and scheduling issues Extreme Ghostbusters failed to find an audience and ran for just one season. The Ghostbusters reboot was an even grander failure as its trailer became the most disliked trailer on YouTube and was deeply polarizing as some viewers rejected the all-female cast. Following this, Sony abandoned plans for a sequel and Ghostbusters was rebooted again, this time with a much firmer connection to the original movies.

1
Charlie’s Angels

Charlies Angels (2000) & Charlies Angels (2019)

The original Charlie’s Angels television series was a crime drama starring three female detectives that enjoyed great success in the 1970s, primarily due to the provocative sex appeal of its leading ladies. Running for five seasons, Charlie’s Angels was a pop culture phenomenon that, despite film studios continually trying to revive it, could never match the broad appeal of its original run. There have now been two attempts to turn Charlie’s Angels into a film franchise in the 21st century, both of which could not build up the momentum to last as an ongoing series.

The first Charlie’s Angel revival was released in 2000 and starred Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Lui as the three Los Angeles detectives, which, despite being a hit at the box office, was an unoriginal retread of the original series. This was followed by Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle in 2003, which was even more by-the-numbers and the franchise came to a grinding halt. In 2019, Charlie’s Angels was rebooted once again by director Elizabeth Banks with Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska, which bombed at the box office, ending the franchise once again.