The IP that wouldn't die: Film franchises that just keep on going

Getting a lot of former action stars in one film was quite the feat for the first Expendables , but even then, the acting was not great. Despite that fact, money kept being poured into these movies starring the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Dolph Lundgren.

No one asked for these movies. Literally no one.

1993’s Jurassic Park is a gem that still holds up today — so much so that it felt unnecessary to reboot the franchise in 2015 with Chris Pratt. Especially given that the plot was somewhat the same with a pair of kids with parental troubles heading to the park to be with a relative, only to get caught up in chaos. So yeah, the plot wasn’t even original, but hey, who needs that when you’ve got dinosaurs on a rampage?

If the Transformers movies never incorporated humans, they may not have made this list.

Tom Cruise will not stop making these movies until he does a stunt that is out of this world, literally. The second they let him go to space and jump out of a ship, that’s when he just might call it quits. Until then, these missions will stay impossible.

Indiana Jones should’ve stayed in the ‘80s alongside acid-wash jeans and Aquanet.

Shark movies have long since been a staple of Hollywood, and more often than not, they are quite ridiculous. That includes Jason Statham’s The Meg. This felt like it could’ve been a one-and-done, but someone decided to greenlight a sequel.

This one is for all of the parents out there who’ve had to suffer at the hands of Branch and Princess Poppy.

Creed started as an excellent continuation of the Rocky series, but then the sequel was just an hour of workout montages that failed to pack the same punch as Stallone’s “Eye of the Tiger.” It was a KO, and not in the way they wanted.

Michael Myers has an AARP card and is still out there terrorizing. That man needs to try and enjoy retirement. 

Johnny Depp left no crumbs as Captain Jack Sparrow, nor did Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom. However, at one point, the Pirates of the Caribbean series started to lose the wonder that made the initial films in the franchise work so beautifully. Those adventures just sailed off the deep end.

This family needs to slow down and stay home.

American Pie sits high atop the shelf of teen movies, but they got progressively worse as they continued to follow this group of high school friends throughout three more movies. Not to mention that once that chapter was done, American Pie continued to trudge forward with a handful of other movies about new characters, including American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules.

Star Trek feels like the type of thing that should only exist on the small screen, but for some reason, the movies continue to exist.

The Lion King is one of Disney’s best, but everyone knows that when Hollywood smells money in the air, they cannot help themselves. With that came a sequel, and then that Timon and Pumbaa-centric one, The Lion King 1 1/2. Not to mention the nature documentary-looking remake in 2019. At this point, audiences just can’t wait for this king to stop making movies.

Anything made after Kevin McCallister committed credit card fraud in New York City is abysmal.

The Matrix feels like it came out at just the right time and was a phenomenon because of it. To bring it back almost 20 years later was not the move.

If someone had said back in 1997 that a movie about a basketball-playing dog would eventually lead to over a dozen movies about dogs doing everything, from going to space to kicking it with Santa, many would’ve thought that person was crazy.

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were a perfect match in Men in Black, so it’s not shocking a sequel followed, but the third was a wash, and then to try and reboot it with new people? Why?

Toy Story 4 wasn’t a bad movie, but after the franchise seemingly wrapped things up so beautifully with the third one, it felt unnecessary. Also, no one asked for a Buzz Lightyear movie. Literally no one. Someone, please tell Pixar and Disney it’s time to let these toys retire to the attic.

There are some highlights in the DC Universe, like Michael Keaton’s Batman and Jim Carrey’s take on The Riddler, but those bright spots don’t make up for the cascade of dim moments that have transpired since the almost Disney Channel-like acting in Shazam, the dismal special effects in Aquaman, the nonsense of Wonder Woman 1984, or the pinnacle moment in Batman v Superman being that the heroes stopped fighting all because their mothers had the same name. DC movies, they are a mess, and it's time to clean up.