Popular properties that have never really worked as film franchises

For Belgian comic strip characters, the Smurfs have found success in the United States. Of course, a lot of people probably don’t know that was the case, having discovered the Smurfs on the successful syndicated cartoon that spawned many an imitator. On the big screen, though, the Smurfs haven’t cut it. The 2011 film, and its 2013 sequel, mixed live action with CGI animation. While the first film was a financial success, you may be surprised to hear that it has no cultural legacy and was critically panned. A 2025 attempt to right the ship, even with Rihanna producing a new song for the film, was another fiasco, one unlikely to yield a sequel.

Tintin, the boy reporter, is also based on a Belgian comic. He hasn’t proven as popular in the United States, though. However, one man was a fan: Steven Spielberg. He had the rights, and he paired with another Tintin fan, Peter Jackson, to try and start up a film franchise. However, even with the combined might of Spielberg and Jackson, “The Adventures of Tintin” didn’t make much of an impact, and there was no sequel.

Garfield has been more successful as a car décor than as a film character. The iconic comic strip cat hit the big screen with none other than Bill Murray voicing the lover of lasagna. Murray has claimed he took the gig because he thought screenplay writer Joel Cohen was Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers. After an ill-received sequel, there was a long gap. Then, Garfield returned with Chris Pratt stepping into the role. It’s true. It happened in 2024! Not that anybody took notice.

The most successful fighting game franchise, “Mortal Kombat,” has found some success on the big screen. “Street Fighter” isn’t there just yet, though. Even with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raúl Juliá in the first movie, things didn’t really work. Another movie, “The Legend of Chun-Li,” was even worse, a true disaster. They are gearing up to try again, with Jason Momoa, among others, in the cast.

“Hitman” is a popular video game franchise, and hitmen are popular as a cinematic trope. Thus, a film adaptation made sense. Timothy Olyphant, a burgeoning actor, was cast as Agent 47 in the 2007 movie. It was poorly received, and Olyphant has openly said he only did the movie to pay for a house after “Deadwood” got canceled. In 2013, they tried again, with Rupert Friend stepping into the main role. It was even more poorly received.

G.I. Joe began as toys, which became a cartoon (to sell more toys). It took a while for a theatrical movie, though, and it was live-action for whatever reason. They tried three times with G.I. Joe movies, with some big names in the cast at that. However, none of them were a big hit, and certainly none of them were critically acclaimed, or even acclaimed by filmgoers. 2021’s “Snake Eyes,” though, an attempt to reboot the franchise, was a true disaster, and it didn’t even make half its budget back.

Dennis the Menace is one of the most famous comic characters. We’re talking about the American one, not the British one. Yes, Britain has a Dennis the Menace who is entirely different. There was a “Dennis the Menace” sitcom as well. John Hughes, the John Hughes, wrote a screenplay for a Dennis the Menace movie that came out in 1993. Walter Matthau played Mr. Wilson. If you were a young child in 1993, you probably saw “Dennis the Menace,” but that is pretty much it in terms of people seeing the film, which has been forgotten. Two direct-to-video sequels were back, but both had entirely new casts.

You might be thinking, “The HBO horror-comedy anthology show? Why would you think it would lead to film success?” Well, they’ve tried multiple times to make it work, so we think it is fair to mention. They have made three different “Tales from the Crypt” movies, including the infamous “Bordello of Blood.” The franchise was so unsuccessful that they even removed the name from the third film, “Ritual.”

This is a different sort of lack of success, at least in one instance. Based on the RPG game, the first attempt at a film, in 2000, was a failure. There were then two direct-to-video movies. They tried again with “Honor Among Thieves,” starring Chris Pine. It is a good movie, and it was well-received critically. However, it made $200 million off of a $150 million budget, and all plans for a sequel were nixed. Two attempts, no sustained franchise.

Speaking of axed franchise plans. Stephen King adaptations are abundant. “The Dark Tower” series offered up a lot of fodder for a franchise. There are, after all, eight books and over 4,200 pages to the whole thing. They started with the titular “The Dark Tower” in 2017, and there were overt plans for a franchise, or at least a sequel. The movie landed with a thud, and even with all that other material, and King’s name attached to it, nothing else has happened.

There have been so many “Scooby-Doo” TV shows, and also a ton of direct-to-video movies. Odds are at least a couple of those have to be good. There are roughly three dozen of them, but none of them have any real cultural standing. The movies with Matthew Lillard and Sarah Michelle Gellar and the rest do, but they were mediocre at best, and certainly don’t serve the legacy of Scooby and the gang well. Then, there was “Scoob!,” which was a true disaster.

He-Man (and She-Ra and the gang) were, like G.I. Joe, all about toys and cartoons intertwining. So far, there has only been one movie based on the property, 1987’s “Masters of the Universe.” Frank Langella played Skeletor. It’s a bad film. Because of the success of “Barbie,” though, Mattel is throwing everything against the wall. Another “Masters of the Universe” movie is scheduled for 2026. Jared Leto is playing Skeletor. It’ll probably be bad.

This is a slightly different take. “The Simpsons Movie” came out in 2007. It was a financial success and was largely well-received by critics and fans who don’t simply refuse to believe anything “Simpsons” related post-1998 can be good. What we’re saying is…why has there only been one “Simpsons” movie? It’s the best show of all time, it’s ensconced in pop culture, and it’s been on television for over 35 years. There should have been two, three, maybe even four “Simpsons” movies by now. There is no franchise there, but there should have been.

In a way, this is standing in for all the old radio show adaptations that weirdly had a moment. “Batman” did well in 1989, and inexplicably, Hollywood’s takeaway was, “Old superheroes that don’t have superpowers maybe?” “The Shadow,” based on an old radio serial, starred Alec Baldwin. There was “The Phantom” starring Billy Zane as well. A couple of other, later shows were based on properties that started as radio series: “The Green Hornet” and “The Lone Ranger.” Both of those flopped as well.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book is one of the quintessential American novels. Somehow, they haven’t made a good movie adaptation. You likely remember Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 movie, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby. If you are old enough, you may also remember the ‘70s version with Robert Redford. However, attempts to successfully adapt “The Great Gatsby” go as far back as 1926. Not a single version has really stuck or been a success.

For whatever reason, it feels like attempts to adapt Nancy Drew outpace attempts to adapt the Hardy Boys. Maybe there’s more appeal for filmmakers in a plucky female teenage detective over two brothers? They made four Nancy Drew movies in the 1930s, and while we haven’t seen them, we’re assuming they aren’t all that good. All four movies came out in under a calendar year, and that just doesn’t inspire confidence. In 2007, Emma Roberts played Nancy, but that movie’s reception led to two planned sequels being nixed. Then, in 2019, it was Sophia Lillis’ turn. While the movie got solid reviews, it didn’t exactly land with audiences. That is to say, “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” cost $17 million to make and earned…$623,088 at the box office.

It shouldn’t be hard to make a good Three Musketeers movie. And yet! There have been several attempts, but in the ‘90s, they cast people like Charlie Sheen and Chris O’Donnell in the movie. In 2011, they let Paul W.S. Anderson make a steampunk version, which seems almost confrontational to audiences. Maybe someday they’ll figure it out.

They made Pirates of the Caribbean work, but Disney hasn’t cracked it with the Haunted Mansion. That’s surprising, because it shouldn’t be hard. It’s a haunted house movie! Both the 2003 version starring Eddie Murphy and the 2023 version starring a bunch of people, nowhere near Murphy’s name recognition, have been shrugged off. There is a path to success, though. The 2021 Disney+ special “Muppets Haunted Mansion” is actually good. Maybe the key to success is being under one hour long?