Franchise Fatigue: 20 Movie Series That Have Been Milked Dry

The DC Cinematic Universe

What was once meant to rival the MCU quickly turned into a cinematic multiverse of maybes. The DC Cinematic Universe has been rebooted, reshuffled, and retconned so many times that even the fans need a spreadsheet to keep track. Different Batmen, on-again-off-again Supermen, origin stories redone or dropped altogether – it’s all starting to feel more exhausting than exciting. Some entries shine (like the last Superman movie) while others leave audiences scratching their heads (Justice League, pick a version). Now with a fresh reboot from James Gunn underway, it’s yet another reset in a franchise built on resets. Continuity fatigue isn’t just real – it’s baked into the brand. | © DC Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe

The MCU didn’t just change superhero films – it redefined the blockbuster era. But after a decade of dominance, the franchise is showing serious signs of wear. Every post-credit scene used to be a thrill; now it’s homework. Characters return from the dead, disappear into streaming shows, or reappear years later with new faces and motivations. The once-clear arc from Iron Man to Endgame has splintered into a multiverse of side quests, lore dumps, and convoluted crossover math. Audiences aren’t just tired – they’re overwhelmed. The sheer volume of content has made it harder than ever to stay invested. Even a franchise this mighty isn't immune to burnout. | © Marvel Studios

Saw

What began as a stripped-down horror film with a clever moral twist quickly evolved into one of the most bloated franchises in the genre. The first Saw was unsettling because it was grounded. Now, we’re ten films deep into elaborate death puzzles and tangled timelines so convoluted they’d make Christopher Nolan blink. Jigsaw’s story ended, then didn’t. His protégés took over, then died, then returned. And even the franchise’s reboots – Spiral, Jigsaw – can’t seem to resist the same old tropes. What was once a chilling examination of consequence has turned into a cinematic arms race of gore and shock value. The traps are creative, sure – but the storytelling is stuck in a loop. And like its characters, we’re trapped inside with it. | © Twisted Pictures

Spider-Man

You know a franchise has been overworked when its own movies start acknowledging the number of times it’s been rebooted. Spider-Man has had three major cinematic lifespans – and we’re not even counting the spin-offs. Tobey Maguire's trilogy defined a generation, Andrew Garfield rebooted it with mixed results, and Tom Holland swung him into the MCU with a younger, shinier face. Then came the animated masterpieces, the multiverse madness, and a rapidly expanding web of side characters that somehow includes Venom, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter. The stories are often strong, but the overexposure is real. Peter Parker has had more live-action origin stories than some characters have had appearances. We love Spidey – but maybe he needs a breather. | © Columbia Pictures (Sony Pictures)

The Lord of the Rings

Peter Jackson’s original trilogy remains an untouchable fantasy epic – one of the rare blockbusters that got everything right. But instead of letting it rest in cinematic glory, the industry just kept digging. Three Hobbit movies squeezed from one book, a billion-dollar streaming prequel (Rings of Power), and now multiple animated spin-offs are stretching Middle-earth thinner than Elvish lembas bread. The beauty of the original films was their restraint, the feeling that you were witnessing something epic and rare. Now it’s more like an IP farm. Even fans who adore Tolkien's world are starting to feel the fatigue. Not every piece of lore needs a trilogy. Sometimes the magic comes from knowing when to stop. | © Amazon

Harry Potter

The magic may have started on Platform 9¾, but by now, the Harry Potter franchise is running on fumes from the Hogwarts Express. What began as a tightly written, emotionally satisfying saga about friendship, identity, and destiny has sprawled into prequel spin-offs, awkward retcons, and nostalgia-fueled rehashes. The Fantastic Beasts series was meant to expand the Wizarding World, but instead it revealed just how thin that world feels without its core trio. Meanwhile, rumors of reboots, TV series, and constant merchandising keep the franchise from ever truly resting. The magic isn't gone – but it's certainly being stretched. Even fans who grew up with Harry are starting to wish the wizarding world would give us all a little time-turner break. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Fast and Furious

It started with stolen DVD players and street racing. Now we’re in space. Literally. The Fast and Furious series has evolved – or rather, mutated – into a high-octane soap opera where logic takes a backseat to gravity-defying stunts, surprise siblings, and increasingly convoluted plot twists. Dom’s “family” now includes everyone from international spies to resurrected frenemies, and each film pushes the limits of physics – and patience. What used to be gritty and grounded is now fully cartoonish, and while there’s fun to be had in its ridiculousness, the formula is dangerously close to parody. At this point, we half expect a crossover with dinosaurs. | © Universal Pictures

X-Men

Before the MCU took flight, the X-Men were the superheroes holding up Hollywood. But what started with sharp allegories and serious themes devolved into a continuity-breaking tangle of recasts, reboots, and soft restarts. There were highs (Logan, Days of Future Past) and definite lows (Dark Phoenix, New Mutants), but what really wore fans down was the franchise’s inability to commit. Dead timelines, origin re-dos, prequel confusions, and cameos meant to "fix" the mess only made it worse. Even the actors seemed confused about what era they were in. With Marvel now rebooting mutants into the MCU, the Fox era feels like a long, chaotic fever dream. | © 20th Century Studios

The Pokémon Movies

Ash Ketchum may have finally retired, but the Pokémon movie machine keeps charging forward like a Pikachu on five cans of energy drink. For over two decades, these films have followed a familiar formula: Ash finds a new mythical creature, there's a friendship montage, a climactic battle, and everyone learns a heartfelt lesson. Rinse and repeat. While a few standouts like Detective Pikachu offered something different, most entries blend together in a haze of legendary beasts and tearful goodbyes. The sheer volume of films – often released alongside seasonal anime arcs – makes it hard to remember which ones are actually important. The franchise isn’t out of lives yet, but the Poké-fatigue is very real. | © The Pokémon Company

Mission: Impossible

When the Mission: Impossible series first launched, it stood out as a smart, stylish spy thriller with a knack for deception and stunt spectacle. But as Tom Cruise defies both aging and gravity, the franchise has become a high-octane ritual of bigger explosions, mask reveals, and convoluted plots about nuclear codes and shadow syndicates. Every installment promises to be Ethan Hunt’s most personal mission yet… until the next one. While the stunt work remains jaw-dropping, the storytelling has begun to blur, like sprinting full-speed through the same high-rise glass again and again. Characters return only to vanish, storylines are recycled with new codenames, and villains morph from one shadowy figure to the next. The thrill is still there – but it's caught in a loop that may be running out of gas. | © Paramount Pictures

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park gave us one of cinema’s most iconic lines – “Life finds a way” – but unfortunately, so does brand exploitation. What began as a groundbreaking sci-fi thriller with philosophical undertones evolved into a creature-feature franchise more interested in spectacle than storytelling. By the time Jurassic World rolled in, dinosaurs were less metaphor and more marketing. Each new entry rehashes the same themes – corporate greed, nature’s revenge, screaming kids – with only marginal upgrades in effects and increasingly absurd set pieces. We’ve gone from awe-inspiring T. rexes to trained raptor sidekicks and cloned children. It’s not that dinosaurs ever stopped being cool, it’s that the franchise forgot why we cared in the first place. | © Universal Pictures

Batman

Few characters have worn out their cape like Batman. From Tim Burton’s gothic noir to Zack Snyder’s brooding broadsheets, the Dark Knight has been rebooted so many times you need a utility belt just to keep track. And sure, some versions are legendary (The Dark Knight, The Batman), but when every new decade delivers a new Bruce Wayne, new Gotham, and a new Joker, it stops feeling fresh and starts feeling like déjà vu in a cowl. The character is versatile – gritty, campy, animated, grounded – but studios rarely give us room to breathe between iterations. Before one Bat-signal fades, another lights up the sky. It’s hard to miss Batman when he never really goes away. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Friday the 13th

What began as a gritty, low-budget slasher with a shock twist quickly became a relentless march of masked mayhem. Friday the 13th turned Jason Voorhees into a horror icon – but also into one of the most overexposed figures in cinema. Across twelve films (and counting), he’s drowned, burned, electrocuted, been to hell, gone to space, and even fought Freddy Krueger. The formula rarely strays: horny teens, eerie woods, and creative kills. But innovation? Not so much. Multiple timelines, a confusing backstory, and a reboot that fizzled have left the franchise feeling more like a ritual than an event. There's still fun in the campy carnage, but the menace faded long ago – replaced by routine. Even Jason’s machete seems tired. | © Paramount Pictures

Star Trek

To boldly go where no franchise has gone before… and then go there again. Star Trek has warped through reboots, timelines, TV spin-offs, movie sequels, and streaming exclusives so relentlessly that its core message often gets buried under lore management. The original films had character-driven stakes and thoughtful sci-fi. The J.J. Abrams reboots brought flair but eventually collapsed under their own flash. Meanwhile, TV and streaming entries multiply like tribbles, with varying degrees of cohesion. Trek still has heart – but constant expansions and contradictions have left even diehard fans needing star maps to keep up. The franchise needs a pause before it splits into another dimension. | © Paramount Pictures

Halloween

Michael Myers never dies – literally or creatively. Halloween kicked off the slasher genre as we know it, but its timeline is now so tangled it borders on surreal. There are sequels, reboots, re-sequels, alternate timelines, and soft resets that contradict each other without apology. One movie erases another, then gets erased itself two films later. Jamie Lee Curtis keeps returning to scream and survive, only to vanish from continuity in the next entry. While some installments manage to tap into the original's eerie simplicity, most lean hard on shock value and fan service. It’s not just horror fatigue – it’s narrative whiplash. | © Compass International Pictures

Star Wars

There was a time when Star Wars was a three-film epic that defined generations. Now, it's an ever-expanding cinematic galaxy where every side character, background planet, and throwaway line could spawn its own Disney+ series. What began as a mythic story of hope and rebellion has transformed into a massive corporate machine of lore, timelines, and overlapping continuities. Yes, there are still great moments – The Mandalorian brought back a spark – but for every gem, there's a bloated sequel or unnecessary prequel. Constant content has dulled the edge of what once felt special. From lightsaber fatigue to Force exhaustion, fans are wondering if Star Wars is still telling stories – or just selling them. | © Lucasfilm

Rocky Balboa (and Creed)

There’s something undeniably powerful about the original Rocky. It was raw, heartfelt, and deeply human. But as the franchise piled on sequels, things got louder, glossier, and a little more ridiculous – robot butlers, street brawls, and flag-waving Cold War metaphors included. Then Creed landed a near-perfect comeback punch, breathing new life into the saga with a generational twist. But now, even Creed is starting to show franchise fatigue with increasingly formulaic entries. The underdog story only works when the stakes feel real – and after nine rounds, that emotional weight is starting to wear thin. Every title feels like it could be the final chapter… until the next bell rings. | © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

James Bond

For six decades, James Bond has been the face of suave espionage and stylish destruction. But even a franchise this iconic can begin to feel like it’s stuck on repeat. Whether it’s saving the world from a global threat or bedding someone with a conveniently timed pun, Bond rarely strays far from the formula. Each new actor brings a fresh twist – gritty, campy, or emotionally wounded – but the blueprint remains largely the same. Spectacle over depth, gadgets over nuance. And while No Time to Die gave us a meaningful sendoff, the reboot cycle is already gearing up again. At this point, it’s not about whether Bond will return. It’s about whether we’re still excited when he does. | © Eon Productions

Sherlock Holmes

No literary character has been rebooted, recast, and reimagined as much as Sherlock Holmes. From Victorian London to modern-day crime scenes to steampunk action flicks, Sherlock is everywhere – and maybe in too many places at once. Robert Downey Jr. punched up the detective for the blockbuster crowd, while Benedict Cumberbatch brooded his way into meme immortality. Meanwhile, Enola Holmes, Mr. Holmes, and countless TV versions filled in the gaps. But the constant recycling of Holmes tropes – pipe, violin, ego, case-of-the-week – is starting to feel like a mystery we’ve already solved. The great detective may be timeless, but even timeless icons need a break. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Godzilla

When Godzilla first stomped onto screens, it was a haunting metaphor for postwar destruction. Now, the King of the Monsters is mostly here to smash buildings in IMAX. Across dozens of films – both Japanese and Hollywood—the franchise has reinvented itself countless times: campy hero, tragic force of nature, nuclear warning, and lately, franchise mascot. The MonsterVerse added spectacle, but lost much of the thematic depth that gave Godzilla his bite. Plotlines are thin, human characters forgettable, and the monster fights – though visually impressive – are often noise without meaning. Godzilla has earned his crown, but even kings need rest before their next reign. | © Toho Co., Ltd.