10 Movie Franchises With Only ONE Great Movie
There are a lot of great movie franchises out there, some of them with multiple great movies. But there’s also a handful of franchises that don’t meet these standards, sometimes there are franchises that only have ONE great movie. That’s what we are looking at today, 10 movie franchises with only ONE great movie. Let’s get started!
Jaws: The film that really put Steven Spielberg on that map as being this top director for the last 48 years. In a lot of ways, cinema really changed with the blockbuster format that kind of started with the original film. The movie came out in the summer of 1975 and was a big box office hit. It made $476.5 million which is about $2.7 billion when adjusted for inflation in 2023. Because the movie made so much money, the studio wanted more movies so they could make more money. And very clearly they didn’t really have any ideas for a sequel, so they came up with ludacris and bad ideas. Jaws 2 is the film that has a very similar tone and vibe to the original one, but it only has Brody returning from the original cast. Spielberg didn’t return so it doesn’t have that magic or spark that worked about the original film. Jaws 3-D is a more campier film with Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., and Lea Thompson so it’s a fun cast that takes place in Sea World. The fourth one is just a bad movie that weirdly enough stars Michael Caine. None of them come anywhere close to being as great or memorable as the first film, so this is easily a franchise where the original one is the only good one.
Rambo: One of the iconic Sylvester Stallone movies, characters, and franchises out there. I watched all of these movies for the first time last year before Samaritan came out. And this is an interesting franchise where it started off with First Blood which is much more of a thriller. There’s action, but it’s more of a character study about a veteran from the Vietnam war. The second and third movie go for all with the 80s cheese and campiness. Then the fourth and fifth one are very brutal action revenge movies, both have similar plots and everything. This is one where I feel like First Blood is the only great one, that one was a lot better than I was expecting it to be. I thought the villain played by Brian Dennehy was great, he’s so villainous that you want to see him taken out. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is fantastic and underrated. The two 80s sequels I didn’t care for really at all, I don’t remember anything about them besides them being ridiculous. Rambo (2008) is very good, but I remember it being brutal and the boat man stuff but I don’t really remember the plot. Rambo: Last Blood solid close out for the character, but nothing too special in my mind. When I look back on this franchise, the original is the only great one where I remember a lot of aspects about it.
Jurassic Park: To be fair, while I think there’s only one great movie (you can probably guess which one). I think the sequels are all fun and watchable to me, even the bad sequels are guilty pleasure movies in my mind. I can watch them and have fun with dinosaurs eating people’s heads off. Jurassic World (2015) I think is easily the best of the sequels, I think that’s a dumb blockbuster with a fun Chris Pratt in the lead. I know a lot of people really like to crap on Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, I get it they have valid arguments. But again, I still have fun with them they’re watchable in my mind. The Lost World: Jurassic Park I think has gotten better with time, I think that’s one of the better films of the franchise. But all of the sequels range from good to mediocre, the true great, the true best of the bunch would be the original film from 1993. That’s one of the greatest movies ever made, it’s one of my top 3 favorite movies. I absolutely love that original film. It shows that Steven Spielberg is a true legendary director where he directs scenes so well, some of them being some of the greatest movie scenes of all time. It has a set of characters that are interesting and all of them have a different world view on what Hammond is doing. And of course, it has maybe the greatest movie score of all time by John Williams.
The Santa Clause: One of the few Christmas movie franchises out there that has a fun (but slightly dark) concept for a Christmas movie. I rewatched all of these movies leading up to the tv show last year. That original film with Tim Allen is such a great movie, that’s one of my top 5 favorite Christmas movies of all time. It’s probably Tim Allen’s best role outside of Buzz Lightyear. I love how mean and snarky he is, the dynamic between him and Judge Reinhold here. I’ve re-watch this movie every Christmas and love it every single time. Like most successful movies, the studio wanted more so they cranked out two sequels. That isn't anywhere close to being as good as that original film. I know some people prefer the second one over the first one, I’ve never understood that. I think that’s the weakest of the bunch, it’s not super memorable for me. The third one gets a lot of hate, some of it is deserved but I think it’s so weird and wacky that it’s fun for me to watch it. Martin Short as Jack Frost is a fun villain that fits the movie well. Then about 15 years later they returned with The Santa Clauses, a Disney+ original tv show last year, that was fine. I think it’s a totally serviceable enough continuation of the franchise. The second season drops in November, I don’t really have too much excitement for it. It’s a franchise that has one great movie, and some decent movies and tv shows following it up.
Men in Black: Kind of a trend going on here, once again the original film is the best of the bunch. I love that first film so much, it’s such a fun movie with a fantastic duo with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. That original film was right as Will Smith was becoming the movie star, he just did Independence Day the previous year. And he absolutely slaps in this movie (too soon?) where he’s so much fun and the dynamic between him and grumpy Tommy Lee Jones makes for a great set of lead characters. Then we got two more movies with Smith and Jones that were fine. The second one is a weird movie, it just doesn’t have that magic or spark of the original film. Johnny Knoxville and Lara Flynn Boyle aren’t great villains, they feel so out of touch in the movie. The third one I think is the second best, I’ve seen it one time years back. I enjoyed it enough but never really wanted to go back and watch it. I remember really liking Josh Brolin in the movie. He's great at playing a young Tommy Lee Jones. But for me, the weakest of the bunch would be Men in Black: International that just didn’t have any of the charm or magic of that original trilogy. It’s so slick and Hollywood that it loses that weird quirky feel of that original film. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are fun movie stars, but they’re not Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. It’s just a forgettable Hollywood blockbuster that has no magic going for it whatsoever. It’s frustrating because I think this is a world and concept that lends itself to being a franchise, but it only has ONE great movie.
The Matrix: This is another franchise where I feel like they had all of the pieces to make a very good successful franchise out of the source material. Of course, the original film is a sci-fi action classic. It was truly groundbreaking when it came out when it comes to the choreography and the visuals. It looks fantastic, it has a fantastic cast inside of it. Keanu Reeves is perfect as Neo, he’s compelling and he’s great in the action. Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie Anne-Moss, and Hugo Weaving fantastic additions that created iconic characters that helped define and start their careers. Most importantly, it has fantastic world building inside of it. It’s so captivating as you’re learning about this world, it’s all so interesting. You’re so sucked into the world building and story that you forget that the first hour of the movie is just exposition, but it’s interesting so you don’t really care. Then you move onto the sequels that weren’t nearly as good as they should have been. I think they all had ideas that were interesting, ideas that on paper sound very interesting. They got so convoluted with the mythology that the plot can be hard to follow, the second and third movie in particular I don’t really know what the plot is because it’s so confusing. I think those movies really hurt the franchise, I don’t think they took things in the direction. The third film has a terrible ending that I don’t think is satisfying to the trilogy as a whole. I could appreciate elements and aspects of The Matrix Resurrection, I think that’s easily the best of the sequels. While still not being a great movie, I think there’s some interesting ideas and I could follow the plot of it more than the previous two films. It’s still only like a B- level movie for me. The original film is like a top 30 favorite movie of all time for me, it’s a true classic in my mind.
Ocean’s Eleven: I recently ranked this franchise just a couple of weeks back, if you saw my ranking you know where I’m going with this. I love that original film, when I say the original I didn't mean the 1960 movie, I mean the 2001 with George Clooney and Brad Pitt. That’s one of the most entertaining and rewatchable movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen it countless times over the years and every single time I watch it, I love it and I’m always so invested in the heist and twist and turns even though I know what’s going to happen. It has an all star cast inside of it, everybody is having so much fun. The movie was a success so it ended up getting a trilogy of movies, I appreciated and enjoyed them. But they were very safe and not as memorable as the original film. I still had a lot of fun watching them, they get pretty self-aware as you go through-out the movie. Ocean’s Twelve has a joke where the team starts debating whether or not Tess, who is played by Julia Roberts looks like Julia Roberts, it’s kind of fun when that sort of stuff happens. Ocean’s Thirteen I think is the best of the sequels, I had a lot of fun with it. It’s nice seeing Al Pacino as your villain in that movie. 11 years later they brought the franchise back with a reboot but this time with an all female cast that is fine, it’s nothing too exciting to me it feels like just another one of these movies, I didn’t feel like they had a distinct enough angle to go with the movie. There is another movie I think is either a reboot or spin-off that stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. I’m very curious about that movie and I’m wondering if it’s going to be any good.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Another franchise that at one point had a reboot that was going to star Margot Robbie. Once again, I’d be down if that was to happen and it looks like it’s not going to. Yet again another franchise that I really don’t understand why we haven’t gotten a worthy sequel to The Curse of the Black Pearl. I rewatched all of the films back in 2021 and I liked the two Gore Verbinski sequels more than I remembered. Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End are solid, sometimes frustrating sequels that had some of the charm of the first film. On Stranger Tides is easily the weakest of the bunch, it’s so forgettable where I don’t remember anything about it. I sort of remember the King or Queen of England tying into the opening action sequence, that’s about it. Then Dead Men Tell No Tales is just more of the same, there’s nothing special about that one that stands out to me. But that first film, The Curse of the Black Pearl is a fantastic movie. I’ve been watching that movie for years and years now, every single time I have an absolute blast watching it. It’s a movie that my family loves. In our family group we send each other Jack Sparrow gifs and memes, because we all love that first movie. Once you went through the franchise especially around On Stranger Tides it feels like they were just making these movies for the sake of making money and giving Johnny Depp a $20 million (or more) paycheck.
Transformers: The streak ends where the original film in these receptive franchises are the best of the bunch, that’s not the case here. The original Michael Bay Transformers movie from 2007 I think is a fun movie, I do like that one. I think it’s a solid film whose reputation got hurt by all of the terrible sequels that followed it. Of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, Dark of the Moon is easily the best of the bunch. It has probably the biggest and best final battle of the franchise, Chicago is a fun city for it to take place in. There’s some nice mythology in there and some twists and turns that do work. Revenge of the Fallen, Age of Extinction, and The Last Knight aren’t very good. Those are just straight bad movies with really no plot but just loud noises with action or characters you don’t care about. But the best of the bunch isn’t one with the word “Transformers” in the title, it’s Bumblebee. Without question, this would be my favorite of the bunch. It has the best set of characters and you actually care about them, you care about their arcs and when bad things happen to them. It takes the Bumblebee and these alien robots and mixes them with a classic boy and his dog story and you get a great addition to the franchise.
How to Train Your Dragon: Now I know this is an unpopular opinion to include this trilogy on this list. To be honest, I’ve never loved these movies the way others have. The third one is the one I saw in the theaters. I don’t have as much nostalgia for these films the way other people my age do. I know a lot of people really love that first film, I don’t if I’m being honest. I think it’s a movie that makes the characters too unlikable, especially the dad who is such a jerk and his redemption comes way too late into the movie. The Hidden World has some memorable moments inside of it, I think the villain is the best of the trilogy. And it comes to a nice satisfying and emotional conclusion in the final moments of the movie. But my favorite would be the second one, a sequel that is truly better then the first film. It has a more interesting story and threat here, I like the characters more and adding in Hiccup’s mom I think adds some nice emotional weight to it. And it very much goes for The Empire Strikes Back approach with it, it’s a much darker film with a bigger story and more emotions. I know a lot of you will disagree with me on this, but I have to be fair and this one deserves to be on the list.
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