When movie franchises jumped the shark

Almost every film series at some point “jumps the shark”. Coined after infamous ‘Happy Days’ episode ‘Hollywood: Part 3’, which had a waterskiing Fonzie literally jumping a caged shark, (just to show-off star Henry Winkler’s real-life skills), the phrase has come to symbolise the point at which a once great franchise loses its freshness - opting instead for desperate diversion tactics.

Even the best movie franchises at some point lose the plot and slip into silliness, gimmickry or self-parody. But when? We investigated.

[Ridiculous movie resurrections]

Ringtone warning dinosaur in ‘Jurassic Park III’
Remember the classic water ripple scene in ‘Jurassic Park’? Of course you do. So how did filmmakers try to emulate that moment in ‘Jurassic Park III’? They stuck a mobile phone in a dinosaur's stomach. When a lost Alan and Eric follow the sound of a dodgy mobile ringtone to be reunited with their group, the call turns out to be coming from an approaching dino that ate the phone’s previous user. Meant as a clever twist, it just made people laugh. There hasn’t been a 'Jurassic Park film since, though a ‘part 4’ is in the pipeline.

Invisible car in ‘Die Another Day’
Brosnan’s time as Bond threw itself over the shark when John Cleese’s Q unveiled a now infamous invisible car in a disused London Tube station. To be honest, the motorised mirage was just one of many belief-stretching moments in ‘Die Another Day’, which also saw 007 casually surf a Tsunami. The movie damaged Bond’s cinematic credentials so much, the character took a four-year hiatus, returning in the rightly unrecognisable form of ‘Casino Royale’.

Expanding breasts in ‘Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines’
If you’re following up one of the most parodied sci-fi movies of all time, you better have something good up your cinematic sleeve: like expanding robotic breasts. When Kristanna Loken’s new female Terminator, the T-X, boosted her bust to avoid a speeding ticket in the opening few minutes of the movie, the tone was already set: this would be a cheap cash-in on a cult favourite.

Paulie’s Robot in ‘Rocky IV’
Paulie’s distracting (and definitely questionable) relationship with his robot helper/potential wife signaled once and for all that Rocky’s shift from gritty Oscar-winning boxing drama to overblown 80s cheese was complete. The mechanical monstrosity (credited as SICO) has now amassed a cult following of its own, even appearing in a 'Family Guy' sketch.

Jar Jar Binks in ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’
George Lucas’ unashamed love of CGI gave birth to perhaps the biggest elephant (or Gungan?) in the corner of the Star Wars franchise: Jar Jar Binks. The character, often dubbed the most annoying in Hollywood history, came to represent all that was wrong with the prequel trilogy and signaled just how out-of-touch Lucas was with his fan base. By the filmmakers’ own admission, CGI nasty Jar Jar was aimed solely at young children - just like ‘Jedi’s’ Ewoks – and played entirely for laughs (and toy sales). The result: a Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actor and legions of betrayed fans.

[Movie threequels that outshone the originals]

Helicopter/cop car takedown in ‘Live Free Or Die Hard‘
Hapless ‘Die Hard’ cop John McClane made a career out of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when belated sequel ‘Live Free Or Die Hard’ saw an ageing Bruce Willis take down a minigun-toting chopper by launching a police car at it, McClane’s luck ran out. Amidst universal groans of disbelief from audiences, there was also a sad realisation: ‘Die Hard’ had become a parody of itself.

Rubber nipples in ‘Batman & Robin’
Widely considered one of the worst movies ever made, if you could hook (quite literally) ‘Batman & Robin’s’ faults on one feature, it would be the infamous rubber nipples. Joel Schumacher designed “anatomically correct” costumes to emulate Ancient Greek statues, making the heroic duo seem idyllic - only commentators called them out as just one of many homoerotic features in the movie (including close-up “butt-shots” and enlarged codpieces). “I think we might have killed the franchise,” admitted star George Clooney. As with Bond, Batman required a gritty reboot to erase the damage.

The orgasm cake in 'The Matrix: Reloaded'
The first ‘Matrix’ became a 90s classic by expertly mixing bullet time fight scenes with smatterings of thought-provoking philosophy. The sequel amped up the pseudo-intellectual guff to ridiculous levels however, encapsulated in the sequence when Lambert Wilson’s Merovingian rambles about ‘Causality’ while a woman eats a specially-designed cake which makes her unwittingly orgasm. A sign that, flush with the success of the first movie, the Wachowskis were given carte blanche to scribble reams of pretentious nonsense for the sequels, with disastrous results.

Peter Parker’s drunk dancing in 'Spider-Man 3'
Things Tobey Maguire does well: being awkward. Thing he doesn’t do so well: being seductive. Part-way through Peter Parker’s transformation from everyman Spidey to evil Venom, he gets a chance to show off some newly acquired moves (and piano skills) in a shoe-horned in distracting dance sequence. Aside from making Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane feel uncomfortable, it made us all shift in our seats. If there was an award for Most Awkward Movie Scene Ever, ‘Spider-Man 3’ would be tucked inside that envelope. Again, a reboot beckoned.

Nuke proof fridge in 'Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull'
Indy’s always been robust to say the least, but when the man in the hat managed to escape a nuclear blast by hiding in a common kitchen fridge, it jumped so high over the shark we needed a whole new phrase. As director Spielberg himself told Empire: "People stopped saying, 'Jump the shark'. They now say, 'Nuked the fridge'. I'm proud of that. I'm glad I was able to bring that into popular culture."

Do you agree with our selections? Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments below…