10 Franchises That Ended On A Massive Cliffhanger

Thanks to rising budgets and falling audience numbers, studios are increasingly relying on long-term franchises to keep themselves afloat. Practically every big budget movie now has to have the option for at least two sequels, and maybe a prequel and a spinoff, too. While this may provide the money men with some security, it’s not very helpful for storytelling. Some movies just don’t require two or three extra parts, and stretching them out – think The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – is painful for the story and the audience. It’s an increasing problem, and it’s made worse when a movie ends with a cliffhanger but thanks to the poor box office numbers, there’s no sequel to wrap things up. This has befallen a number of big franchises, where the story came to a cold, hard stop and longtime fans got no resolution. If there’s a lesson to be learned – and studios will probably never learn it – it’s that movies have to be somewhat good to earn another instalment..... 10) Who Won? - Freddy vs. Jason While Freddy vs. Jason was hardly worth the decade long wait it took to reach cinemas, it was still a fun, trashy romp. Of course, the main thing fans wanted to know was who would emerge victorious from the fight, but the movie wimps out by suggesting it was kind of a draw. The last shot has apparent winner Jason emerge with Freddy’s severed head, but since the head gives a knowing wink to the camera, the suggestion is that the whole scene is a dream. Despite being a big hit for New Line, a direct sequel failed to happen, so this cliffhanger remains unresolved. Both characters were given iffy reboots a few years later, though they both failed to spark new franchises in their own right. 9) Will Riddick Gain Revenge? - Riddick Once upon a time Vin Diesel stepped away from both The Fast and the Furious and xXx franchises because he claimed not to like sequels. He’s obviously changed his mind since then, because not only did he return to both, but he’s also a part of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, too. He even returned to his breakout role in 2013’s Riddick, where the gruff anti-hero finds himself stranded on a hostile alien planet. It was a back to basics approach after the bloated second movie, and for the most part, it jettisoned the tedious Necromonger storyline. It did leave the door open to return to it, however, since Karl Urban’s Vaako was the one who dumped Riddick on the planet. Diesel teased a fourth instalment would pick up on this plotline, and while Riddick was a modest hit, neither the studio nor the actor appear to be in a hurry to return to the character. 8) Did Elen Survive? - The Descent Part 2 The Descent is one of the best horror films of the last decade, and the ending didn’t exactly leave things open for a sequel. We still got one though, with another luckless group being attacked by the flesh-eating crawlers from the original. The movie ends on a dark note, where sole survivor Elen is hit by a shovel by an old man who is helping the monsters for some reason. She’s dragged to a hole in the ground, where a crawler jumps out at her. Her fate is left ambiguous, but the actress playing Elen was signed on for a potential third film, too. Fans of the original revolted against the sequel, however, feeling it ruined the ending of the original and was just a lazy cash-in; which it was. Even original director Neil Marshall stated his dislike for the film, and talk of a third Descent movie quietly died down. 7) Fly Me To The Moon - Journey 2: The Mysterious Island The Rock has a unique habit of appearing in Brendan Fraser-less sequels to Brendan Fraser movies. This includes The Scorpion King, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Brendan’s loss is the audience’s gain, though, since The Rock gives a boost to any film he stars in. He’s not dubbed “Franchise Viagra” for nothing. Journey 2 was a bigger hit than the original film thanks to his appearance, but it looks like his super packed schedule has put a third Journey movie low down on his to-do-list. It's unfortunate, too, as the Mysterious Journey ended with a huge teaser for the next movie, with the family planning a no doubt wacky trip to the moon. A potential third entry is probably entirely dependent on The Rock’s involvement, but if he's able to find a gap in his schedule in the next 35 years, maybe it'll happen after all. 6) Is The Whole World Doomed? – 28 Weeks Later 28 Days Later is the movie that all but revived the ailing zombie genre in 2002, and gave birth to the fast zombie thread that led to the remake of Dawn of the Dead and World War Z. It also got a sequel in the form of 28 Weeks Later, where a couple of kids have to survive another outbreak when London is re-infected. The sequel was an intense horror ride, but despite healthy box office numbers and positive reviews, 28 Months Later never happened. The climax of the sequel hints the infection has spread beyond London, with a glimpse of Paris being overrun with the infected. This opened up all sorts of possibilities, but with key talent like Danny Boyle and Alex Garland being too busy with other projects, the chances of a third movie grow more remote with each passing year. 5) What Was On Page 47? - National Treasure 2: Book Of Secrets Despite being pretty dopey and lightweight, there appears to be a lot of love for the National Treasure movies, and talk of a third film crops up from time to time. It seems unlikely to be a direct sequel, though, since it’s been nearly a decade since Book of Secrets and Nicolas Cage’s star has fallen a good deal since then. The second film revolved around the titular book that contained info on major government secrets like Area 51 and the JFK assassination. The ending features the president confronting Cage’s hero about “Page 47” of the book, which is apparently “life-altering.” This coy tease was clearly setting up a third adventure, but Disney has bigger franchises to fry, so National Treasure is currently stuck in development hell. 4) What Happened To The Collector? – The Collection The Collector and its sequel The Collection are two underrated horror gems, involving a twisted killer who stalks his victims using elaborate traps. Both movies feature a luckless thief caught up in the killer’s sick game, but after going through two movies of hell, the final scene of The Collection features him turning the tables. He tracks the monster down and stuffs him into his own collection box, and the ending suggests he’s going to torture him to death. It’s a dark note to end on, but a third movie dubbed The Collected was supposed to round off the trilogy. It would explore the origins of The Collector and what made him so twisted. The final scene even hints at his backstory thanks to a radio broadcast. Unfortunately, however, the series seems to have stalled at this point and it's unlikely that the trilogy will ever be completed. 3) Who Sent Arnold’s Terminator Back? - Terminator: Genisys Terminator: Genisys was an attempt to kickstart a new Terminator trilogy before the rights to the series reverted back to James Cameron. Unfortunately, the film was an utter mess, thanks to a confusing story, dull action and poor performances from Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney. It was also a box office disappointment, and Genisys is likely to be the last Terminator movie for awhile to come. The film left a few dangling threads to be picked up in the next instalment though, like the post-credit reveal that Skynet survived the final battle. There’s also the lingering question of who exactly sent Arnold’s Guardian T-800 back to protect young Sarah or what its ultimate goal is, which the story intentionally keeps vague. It's doubtful anyone liked the movie enough to care about the answers, though. 2) Pretty Much Everything - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 So confident were Sony with The Amazing Spider-Man series that they’d planned further sequels and spinoffs before the second film was even finished. The sequel teased several storylines that were meant to be explored further down the road, but thanks to the film being a commercial and critical disappointment - and the character subsequently being rebooted in Captain America: Civil War - we’ll never know how things were meant to pan out. Unresolved plotlines include what happened to Richard Parker, which the movie spends a lot of time setting up but doesn’t bother to pay it off. Furthermore, we still don’t know who the mysterious man in the hat was meant to be, Green Goblin ends the movie planning his revenge by assembling the Sinister Six and Felicity Jones was clearly meant to become Black Cat in the next movie. Most importantly of all, though, is whether or not Aunt May become a successful nurse. Sadly, we’ll never have the answers. 1) Will Hellboy Destroy The World? - Hellboy II: The Golden Army Despite Ron Perlman trying to whip up excitement about finishing the Hellboy trilogy, it’s just not going to happen. The first two movies did decent business, but they weren’t smash hits and a third entry would need a big budget to fulfil Guillermo Del Toro’s vision for it. The second movie ends with Hellboy quitting the B.P.R.D and learning Liz is pregnant with his twins. This would be a happy ending if the Angel of Death hadn’t warned Liz that Hellboy will eventually fulfil his destiny and destroy the world, and she’ll suffer more than anyone. It’s increasingly unlikely a third film will come together now, but at least the series ended on something of a happy note for the character.