Franchise fatigue: The summer of 2007 was a sharp reminder
to Hollywood that audiences can suffer from major sequel overload, but the
studio machine can be as slow as an oil tanker and had already put a number of
questionable franchises back in the pipeline for this year. So, it
... more wasn't really
a surprise when audiences turned their noses up at "X-Files: I Want to Believe," a movie less cinematic and
fronted by a worse marketing campaign than its predecessor a decade before; "The
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," which should finally put the nail in the
coffin of "director" Rob Cohen's career; and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," which proved that audiences
want their C.S. Lewis at Christmas more than anything else. The rest of the year
had its share of franchise failures as well, including the ill-conceived "Step
Up 2: The Streets" and the contractually obligated "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." (Warner
Bros.)Close
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