Hollywood lives to create new franchises, but not every comic book, children’s toy or TV show begets a successful film series.
Just ask the folks behind the 1991 dud “The Rocketeer.”
Remember the hype surrounding that feature? Too bad the actual movie fell quickly back to earth.
Here are five more movies which seemed franchise-ready but got roundly rejected by movie audiences.
- “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” (1985) – Not so fast, Mr. Williams. Fred Ward starred in this cross between James Bond and MacGuyver, but public indifference meant Remo was a one and done affair.
- “The Shadow” (1994) – Alec Baldwin would have made a great Bruce Wayne. Instead, he got saddled with this inferior hero from radio days of yore.
- ‘Speed Racer” (2008) – The Wachowski brothers offer further proof “The Matrix” was a glorious fluke. If you’re gonna make a bomb, why not make it as color-saturated as this box office calamity.
- “Catwoman” (2004) – Oscar winner Halle Berry takes the furry baton from Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar, Michelle Pfeiffer and Lee Meriwether. Purrr-fectly awful.
- “Daredevil” – (2003) – WWTW insists this comic book adaptation isn’t nearly as bad as literally everyone said. No matter, since no one is clamoring for Ben Affleck to don the crimson suit again.
Related posts:
on 
on 
on 
on 
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll never figure why The Rocketeer flopped. A movie I loved and adored. Heroism, Gee-Bees, Alan Arkin, Paul Sorvino as an American-lovin’ mafioso and Timothy Dalton chewing up scenery like jaws. Definitely a piece of it in my heart.
All the stars seemed aligned for “The Rocketeer.” Maybe all the high expectations sunk it.
I agreed with Harlan Ellison’s take on the Rocketeer. The mythology didn’t resonate with the audience. The story should have been about the underdog who, through his cleverness and bravery is rewarded with the “Magic Helmet”. In the movie, however, he stupidly flies the plane that represents his future into the path of a machine gun fight and later wimps out when his friends are in trouble at the diner.
And of course, they left out the “Betty Page pin up photo session splash page” scene from the comic. Unfortunately, it didn’t fit with Disney’s audience demographic. Finally, the movie wasn’t helped by the actress playing his girlfriend – as Jack Webb might have said in “The D.I” : she just didn’t pack the gear.
Remo Williams was a very promising movie. Unfortunately it anticipated many of today’s movies by a left slanted plot bashing that ol military industrial complex boogey. So they made the decision to pander to their politics rather than just entertaining the audience.
I stopped watching “Speed Racer” about 20 minutes in, when the mother’s disembodied head made a slow traverse of the screen for no other reason than it was somebody’s idea of really cool graphic design. Thank goodness it was just a bargain bin DVD rental.
Remo also did something that I was amazed at the time they did, that they actually got away with it in this day and age and because of it people weren’t holding huge hissy fits over and calling for the filmmakers heads.
Instead of using a Korean or asian actor they put a white guy in bad makeup that kind of made him look asian. He also had a very bad accent, it certainly wasn’t Korean.
Still, I did like it and own it, plus it has a great line towards the end of the film that I’ve used several times in my daily life.
“Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass?”
“Because it’s the quickest route to your brain”.
Let’s not forget Eragon and The Golden Compass. Two pathetic attempts to create awful franchises for kids.
Considering that the sequels of franchises usually get progressively worse, I’m pretty sure that making franchises of those two would qualify as child abuse.
And I just remembered two more, both of which darn well SHOULD have kick-started franchises: Serenity and Master and Commander. What I wouldn’t give to see follow-up sequels to both of them.
And I always had this odd idea that David Mamet should do a follow-up to Spartan, even though it bombed. Val Kilmer’s character was great in the lead role, and could have easily been plugged into other adventures, with the help of Mamet’s writing and direction.
Y0u forgot “The Hulk,” which went from eagerly anticipated to bomb to reboot in record time. Still sucks (sorry Ed Norton). A low-rent “Bourne” with a CGI green monster thrown in … zzzzzzz.
We’ll never see Hulk 2 (or would that be Hulk 3). I always liked The Hulk comics as a kid. But looking at the character now, it’s obvious that The Hulk’s story is simply not complex or compelling enough to carry the burden of a feature film plot. The Hulk is the monstrous embodiment of rage, and not much else. He can’t talk (so witty dialogue is out) and there’s only so much emotion you can write on the face of a CGi creation.
As part of an ensemble with The Avengers? That might work.
I’m pretty sure the Hulk will be part of The Avengers, possibly even as the antagonist at first.
I agree with you about Daredevil, Christian. It wasn’t nearly as bad as people make it out to be. But, weirdly, it sort of pulls its punches — it tried to be dark, but wasn’t quite dark enough. I’m not sure if Affleck was a good Matt Murdoch, either. Maybe Marvel should reboot it, and rely on Frank Miller’s stories. (The secret? Ninjas! More ninjas! Even more ninjas!) (Just don’t let Miller direct.)
You’re not sure if Affleck was a good Matt Murdoch? Not sure!!???
Ben, my friend. Affleck is never a good anything> in any movie … at least not since Chasing Amy. Affleck couldn’t even pull off pretending to be blind convincingly. He can’t play “dark.” His annoying smirk is too close to the surface. Even John Stamos would have handled the part better. At least Affleck got a wife and family out of the movie.
Though this starts a good discussion. Who would be a better Murdoch/Daredevil in a possible reboot? I fear Hollywood would give it to Shia Labeouf (shudder). Norton could do the part justice, but he’s already been saddled with Big Green. Same with Eric Bana. Christian Bale is also claimed …
Hmmm. Cillian Murphy would be good (let’s just forget he was “Scarecrow” in the Batman reboot. Billy Crudup, perhaps? Let’s hear some nominations. Who woulda thought Tobey Maguire could be such a good Peter Parker?
Trivia: According to Wikipedia, Buffy/Angel/Bones star David Boreanaz was offered Bale’s part of Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins … and he turned it down. Bad move by him; great for the franchise.
I’m glad at least one person didn’t think Daredevil was as bad as its reputation. I mean, it’s not Citizen Kane but it also isn’t Howard the Duck.
Jim, that sort of indiscriminate gauntlet throwing will only get my back up and lead to nothing but trouble for you. You cannot possibly deny Affleck’s brilliance in Pearl Harbor! Oh, wait…
Well, what about Dogma? He was OK in that piece of garbage.
As for a Daredevil reboot, I don’t see why Eric Bana wouldn’t be a good candidate. Also, what about Chris Pine?
“…it it also isn’t Howard the Duck.”
Few films are.
I was in a test audience for Howard the Duck. The screening was held at Universal Studios. I was 15, I think. There was nothing I could do — I didn’t have the vocabulary to express just how horrible it was. The guilt has stayed with me all these years, and I believe Lea Thompson’s career has never been the same since.
I see your Dogma, and endorse both “OK” and “piece of garbage.” Moving on …
Chris Pine? Eh. Haven’t seen the new Trek yet. Can’t judge. I’d prefer Adam Baldwin. I think he’d be really good, though he’s getting up there in age (47).
and I believe Lea Thompson’s career has never been the same since.
I’ll say. It no longer exists.
I have to agree with the earlier comment about Serenity and Master and Commander. Loved both those movies. I don’t know if it counts as a potential franchise that failed, but I really liked Grindhouse and had hoped there would have been more.
The failure of Serenity can be laid at the feet of Whedon. He broke his very own rules about the type of stories Firefly should tell and that’s one of the big reasons it failed.
That and the fact he was trying to please everyone with the story, essentially gutting the “life” out of the characters. He tried to please everyone and ended up pleasing all most no one.
We liked the Shadow. It had a good set of actors who worked well with the material, John Lone rocked as the villain, and the cinematography was good. Great family movie.. I think it just wasn’t right for the time it was released.
I thought the Rocketeer was missing actor chemistry or something.. it did not grab me.
Kilmer was very good, but the rest of the movie sucked pretty hard. The Unit is essentially an extension of the same idea, and is vastly better.
Hmmm… I actually like “Remo Williams” and watch it when it shows up on cable and I might be the only person in this discussion who actually liked Alec Baldwin in “The Shadow”, even though, generally, I don’t think much of him as an actor. (he was good in the brilliant “Hunt for Red October” though).
“Speed Racer” was ghastly bad, “Catwoman” had the sexy Halle Berry, as you say, but it never clicked, and, finally, “Daredevil” had the makings of a good comic book film, but it needed an actor who would have made me care about the role.
Two more mentioned here: “Eragon” was boring, just as the book was boring, and “The Golden Compass” should have been cool and it was an interesting story (and book), but again, it didn’t really work as a movie. Entirely forgettable.
And I think there’s no point in talking about “Serenity” if you don’t talk about the “Firefly” series and its failure to garner sufficient audience to be renewed. If you hadn’t seen “Firefly” I think “Serenity” didn’t make much sense either as it felt more like an extended retelling of the mythology + some additional story, rather than a full-blown movie.
For me Remo Williams is best movie ever. Mainly because of the verbal clash between master and disciple. Great acting as korean teacher mainly because all quotes have philosophical tone to it. Not much action but great story.
Shadow was good i remember watching long time ago.
Serenity was very good toward ending. I hate the hero due and his stupid dialog. If i pinpoint one reason firfly failed because smart arse artifical dialogue and the guy who played hero. AWFUL. I beat up whole whedon guy for putting crappy dialog. Story was ok.
Hulk 2 was ok. Nothing great. All others are waste of time to talk about.