Movie franchises that jumped the shark in 2016

For every billion-dollar blockbuster of 2016, there was a franchise that was quietly being snuffed out. These are the movie series that took it a step too far this year and jumped the shark, never to regain the quality they once had…

The Divergent Series

Jumped the shark with: ‘Allegiant’

One of many Young Adult franchises that sprang up in the wake of ‘Twilight’ and ‘The Hunger Games’, the dystopian Divergent Series was one of the few successful enough to warrant a sequel. It does feel like Shailene Woodley’s sci-fi saga has outstayed its welcome a little: ‘Allegiant’ made half of what 2015’s ‘Insurgent’ did at the US box-office and critics were not kind.

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Lionsgate reacted to the film’s lack of popularity and announced that the proposed fourth movie, ‘Ascendant’, would take the form of a TV show and not a feature film. Star Woodley would say only: “I didn’t sign up to be in a television show.” Shark officially cleared.

Jason Bourne

Jumped the shark with: ‘Jason Bourne’

For years, fans have been clamouring for Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon to join forces once more and make another Bourne movie. They tolerated the crummy Bourne knock-offs. They tolerated Jeremy Renner’s ‘Bourne-minus-Bourne’ spin-off. Finally, the news came in: Bourne 4 was go, with Greengrass at the helm! The result? Disappointing: it turns out that actually, the Bourne trilogy was a perfectly self-contained story arc and the fourth self-titled Bourne adventure added very little to the franchise mythology, save for a whole new set of suits barking at monitors and saying “Oh my god, that’s Jason Bourne!” Don’t expect a fifth Bourne movie any time soon.

Independence Day

Jumped the shark with: ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’

20 years, we waited. And for what? A trumped-up firework show with none of the event or spectacle or the original. ‘Independence Day’ was one of the defining movie of the 90s, a true blockbuster that signalled that the era of special effects was here to stay and one that was chock-full of cheesy action, memorable characters and quotable dialogue. Two decades on, ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ hoped that bigger equalled better, but it wasn’t the case: a farcical plot, paper-thin characters (Thingy Hemsworth) and been-there-done-that effects (aliens, but more) amounted to a cinematic yawn that made a third of what the original ID4 made 20 years ago. The final scene, proposing Earth take the fight to the aliens’ homeworld, rang hollow. We’ll pass, thanks.

The DC Cinematic Universe

Jumped the shark with: ‘Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice’, ‘Suicide Squad’

It might be a little early to call time on the DC Cinematic Universe, with just three movies in its canon so far, but two of those movies are ‘Batman Vs Superman’ and ‘Suicide Squad’, two of the most poorly-reviewed superhero movies ever made. Zack Snyder’s superhero face-off wasted both the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel in an over-long, under-lit battle of drudgery, while David Ayer’s villain ensemble was all style and no substance, with a theatrical cut that had been butchered in the edit bay. If next year’s ‘Wonder Woman’ is a flop, expect Marvel to have free reign in the superhero genre for decades to come.

Snow White

Jumped the shark with: ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’

Hands up who wanted a sequel to ‘Snow White And The Huntsman’? Keep your hand up if you wanted a sequel that didn’t actually feature Snow White? Anyone? Didn’t think so. This ill-fated sequel was doomed from the start: promoting the bit-part role of Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman to the star didn’t hide the fact that this fantasy farce only existed because the first film made money. Even the awesome trio of Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain and an off-the-leash Charlize Theron couldn’t save it from bland land. What next, a sequel to The Huntsman without The Huntsman? Doubtful.

X-Men

Jumped the shark with: ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’

How the mighty have fallen. Bryan Singer single-handedly kick-started the superhero genre with the first two ‘X-Men’ movies, but always regretted not directing ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’. 2014’s ‘Days Of Future Past’ went some way to remedying that – by effectively removing it from the franchise’s timeline; in your face Brett Ratner – but ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is easily as bad as ‘The Last Stand’: clumsily written, overwrought and badly acted by a cast that look desperate to escape their contracts. Brazenly, Singer even included a gag at the expense of ‘X-Men 3’ where his characters joke about how “the third movie is always the worst”. After ‘First Class’ and ‘Days Of Future Past’, that gag may be more true than he realised – it’ll be hard for the ‘X-Men’ to come back from this fumble.

Alice In Wonderland

Jumped the shark with: ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’

You have the success of ‘Alice In Wonderland’ to thank for the following things: the surge of 3D movies; the influx of movies based on ancient fairytale properties; and the continuing infantilisation of Tim Burton. Nobody saw its billion-dollar box-office take coming, and with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been a miracle if sequel ‘Through The Looking Glass’ repeated the same trick. Forced whimsy and a star facing domestic abuse charges do not a fun family experience make: Johnny Depp’s off-screen troubles led to the ‘Alice’ sequel tanking and making less than a quarter of its predecessor. Disney have far bigger fairytale fish to fry: Alice will be hung out to dry on the Wonderland washing line.

Tarzan

Jumped the shark with: ‘The Legend Of Tarzan’

Does the world really need a Tarzan franchise? Must we do this again? Every few years, filmmakers flick through the folder marked ‘franchises that are out of copyright’ and decide that a topless dude swinging through the jungle is the stuff that blockbuster movies are made of; every decade, they’re proved wrong. 2016’s ‘The Legend Of Tarzan’ was better than, say, 2013’s animated ‘Tarzan’ movie starring Kellan Lutz, but it was still essentially a buff guy sans shirt getting cosy with gorillas – even Margot Robbie couldn’t save it. For further ape action, look to the ‘Planet Of The Apes’ reboot franchise for salvation; Tarzan’s vine has totally wilted.

The Purge

Jumped the shark with: ‘The Purge: Election Year’

The concept of the Purge movies is still brilliant, and gets more and more relevant every day the closer the United States slips towards total lawless anarchy. That said, ‘The Purge: Election Year’ was a little too on the nose: a grotesque mirror held up to the 2016 American presidential campaign, it managed the unique double of being both less offensive than the real electoral battle, and less entertaining too. We need look no further than the evening news – or our Twitter feeds – to feel that same pang of political terror and fear of violence that the Purge movies once provided. What’s the point of it now?

The Da Vinci Code Saga

Jumped the shark with: ‘Inferno’

Dan Brown wasn’t suddenly going to turn into a competent and exciting writer overnight, so if you’d read the book, you’d know that Inferno was from the same slow-and-steady stable of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ i.e. Indiana Jones movies for old people. But man, with Ron Howard behind the camera and Tom Hanks in front of it, we at least hoped for a little… charisma? Mystery? Intrigue? All words that have never been used to describe ‘Inferno’, a plodding puzzle of a movie about which the most difficult question to solve was ‘How the hell did this get made?’ Think a globe-trotting James Bond, minus all vim and vigour, crossed with a boring holiday tour guide and you have ‘Inferno’: a travelogue movie for people who prefer a nice sit down.

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