The Monday Question: Franchise!

There a couple of things certain in life: Death, taxed and movie franchises. Through the years I’ve read a lot of complaints that Hollywood isn’t putting out enough original material and is constantly making sequels. Personally I really don’t have this issue as there are enough great movies coming out each year and when I’m not interested in a franchise anymore I simply don’t watch it. Which brings me to this week’s question:
Which movie franchises did you give up on and why did you do so?

Although there are probably more franchises I can’t think of right now there are three big ones I gave up on:


The Harry Potter movies
Although I’m not 100% sure, I think I stopped watching the franchise after the Goblet of Fire. I think I did start watching the next one but really couldn’t get into it, shut it off and never returned to the rest of them. Even though I’ve read good things about the later movies I can’t really set myself to revisit the series.


Pirates of the Carribean movies
Out of this series I’ve only seen the first two. Why didn’t I watch the others? Well, because with these movies I never felt that they were about anything. To me they felt like empty stories which didn’t go anywhere and which I only watched to see some cool effect shots and some action. Didn’t care much about the characters (nope, not even Jack Sparrow).


Although I know I will watch every new installment of this franchise with hope, deep down in my heart I have given up on any good new Terminator movies. In my mind only two of them have been made.

Which movie franchises did you give up on and why did you do so?

32 thoughts on “The Monday Question: Franchise!

  1. I never watched the POTTER films. I really didn’t understand the appeal. I am going to give the franchise another go when my girls get a bit bigger. I think it will be nice discovering the films with them

    Happy Monday Nostra

  2. Gave up on Potter and didn’t watch the final two till very very late. But, Pirates is the one I gave up after the second one. I did eventually watch the third movie, but have no intentions of watching the fourth or any after that if the are making more.

  3. Haha…a wonderfully depressing start to the article which perversely makes the franchises out to be the good guy! πŸ™‚ I like it!

    You’ve highlighted one I gave up on – “Pirates” as I hated the second film because it seemed to go on and on, completely lacking the true comical genius of the first film. I also gave up on the Saw series as it was the same film played out time and time again…the same could be said of the Final Destination films – 3D then 4D then 5D – I haven’t seen the latter two – I’m guessing this involves employees of the cinema slicing your fingers off and things like that.

    • Thanks Dan, with all the moaning I read about sequels I thought it was a fitting start πŸ˜‰

      I have not seen any of the Saw movies, but because of the genre I do not mind…I think I did see the first Final Destination one, but not any sequels. Your comment about cutting of fingers had me laughing out loud.

  4. It’s rare that I give up on franchises that i’ve started! I don’t think I avoided the Final Destination films after the second one, just was unaware of their existence until the franchise hit five!!!

    Thinking about giving GI Joe a miss this summer, Pirates of the Caribbean films have spent their goodwill. I’ve almost given up on the Alien franchise (the main one) but I think i’ll give Alien Resurrection a go sometime soon. I’ll happily miss the next Transformers film, Wrath of the Titans.

    The Saw/Paranormal Activity series are the ones I stopped watching. Dull stuff.

    • Hahahaha, I didn’t know there were any after the first one until the last one, so you are not alone!

      I’m looking forward to GI Joe as I did have fun with the first one and this one has Dwayne Johnson in it!

      I’ve only seen 2 of the Alien movies (the first two), but still want to see the other ones, just haven’t got around to doing it yet!

  5. Nice I’m 100% with you. I will always watch the new Terminator films but I know I’m just having the memory of the first two spat on and smothered in shite each time I go back for more like a gluttenous cretin.

    POTC I made it through the trilogy but apart from a couple of cool action scenes in the second one and a few sniggers from Capn Jack, I wished I hadn’t. I won’t be bothering with the fourth.

    Same with Harry Potter. Made it through the lot but never really liked them. They did keep getting better though.

    Die Hard 4.0 was a crushing disappointment though I need to re-watch it. And start praying for better from the fifth one.

    Twilight I watched the first and will never touch another again.

    Only seen the first Rocky and not sure if I can be bothered with the rest. I’ve just heard they’re a bit ridiculous. Might skip to Rocky Balboa.

    • Yeah, Die Hard 4 was a big disappointment to a lot of people. I guess people wouldn’t have these issues if it didn’t have the Die Hard name…

      Never watched any Twilight movies and I’m planning to keep it that way!
      I think the second Rocky movie is worth watching (from what I remember)…

  6. Potter I never got into. Never understood the appeal of it. Maybe 20 years down the line I’ll get into it. But doubt it.

    POTC – I really enjoyed. Well, the first three. I know they got more non-sensical as they went on, but I loved it. Stranger Tides though? Nope… left me so very cold.

    The Fast and Furious franchise is an interesting one for me. Love the first film. Then skip along to 4 and 5. 2 and 3 are just a bit woeful. Looks like it’s a franchise that’s back on track.

  7. I’m not a fan of Harry Potter, but unfortunately I have seen every single one of them. I wouldn’t have even bothered watching a single one if my girlfriend weren’t a huge fan of the series.

    One franchise that I have stuck through for the most part is Saw. Although the majority of the sequels have been subpar, I still keep watching just to see what crazy situations the characters get mixed up in. Yet for some reason I still haven’t watched the final chapter. I should probably watch that just for conclusion’s sake.

    • I was already wondering why you kept watching them Eric, but that’s an understandable reason πŸ˜‰

      I would have a very hard time sitting through the saw series, really not my thing at all….

  8. Hi, Nostra and company:

    I gave up on the ‘Die Hard’ franchise after its second film. When the director tried to use Colorado’s Stapleton Airport and Alpena, Michigan to double for Dulles Airport and the wilds that surround it. Of which there are none. Which were bad and sad enough. But, an ejection seat in a modified Army C-7 Caribou transport?…. You’ve GOT to be kidding!

    PS: Nearly all modern airlines from the Boeing 707 onward have their fueling ports and control panels inside the right hand side landing gear wheel well. NOT pop open covers and twist off caps on the outboard side of aircraft engines’ cowling!!!

    • Wow Jack, that’s a lot of very specific plane knowledge which took you out of that movie. I really enjoyed part 3 even though it has a lot of unrealistic stuff as well, but that was fun. Part 4 shouldn’t be called a Die Hard movie although I did enjoy it…

  9. Interesting question Nostra. Well I’m kinda the opposite about HP, I discovered it late (just before the first part of the Deathly Hallows came out) but then we did a marathon over the course of 4 months and really enjoyed it.

    I did give up on Pirates of the Carribean after the first one, it’s just utterly banal and silly all around.

    • Thanks Ruth!

      Maybe I should watch the whole HP series again with the kids as they are almost at the age where they can watch all of them.

      So it seems that not many bloggers will watch any new Pirates movies looking at all the comments!

  10. Cool topic! I kept seeing Harry Potter although in the mid series it felt a little off, just because I was still interested seeing the magic world. I haven’t seen the 4th POTC, lost interest on it because the 3rd felt too complicated. I never saw Paranormal Activity and I haven’t watch Twilight’s Breaking Dawn because,..well, time is now strict and I tend to neglect the movies I would mock πŸ˜‰

  11. Hmmm… Not many spring to mind. I’ve seen all of the POTC films though, to be quite honest, they should have just left it with Black Pearl.

    Like Ruth I came up to Harry Potter quite late. I watched the first ones then missed a few and thought I better play catch up before Deathly Hallows 1 and 2 came out.

    One series I have definitely given up on is Saw – while the first one was very clever and well written, they are not by thing at all!

  12. This is a great question this week Nostra!

    I gave up on Pirates of the Caribbean. I also gave up on Shrek after the 2nd one, but returned for the 4th and liked it.

    I also gave up on The Chronicles of Narnia. Man, I loved the books, but this last 2 just didn’t do it for me. And I agree with Claire on SAW.

    • I try to keep thinking of new and interesting ones T!

      Only watched the first Narnia movie, but didn’t feel the need to watch any others, so I probably could have added that to the list as well.

  13. Very interesting post Nostra!!
    My choices are same with you with slightly different reasons.

    Harry Potter.
    I stopped watching after movie 5 because the ending in the book is too disappointing, I can’t bare seeing it in movie

    Pirate of Caribbean
    Because movie 2 is horrible and I lost my interest

    Terminator
    Without Arnie, Terminator lost its meaning.

    All superheroes franchise
    I am getting tired of seeing too much man in silly costumes running around in cinema

    • Thanks Novroz. Some similar choices to mine. I don’t mind the superhero movies although I’m not someone who feels the need to go to the cinema to watch them.

  14. Pirates, definitely. The first film was fairly good, entertaining, but the second was tired and dull. The third, which I only sat through around 20 minutes, was terrible. It made no sense at all, and didn’t seem to care.

  15. Pingback: » Movie Review – Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl Fernby Films

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