10 Movie Franchises That You Didn’t Know Had So Many Sequels

9. Air Bud

Air Bud is the Disney movie franchise about everyone’s favourite sport playing dog, a Golden Retriever named Buddy. It is a pretty silly premise, and one that only really appeals to kids, but it obviously caught on — the franchise has put out 14 movies total, including the five main sequels plus seven in the Buddies series spinoffs and two more Santa Paws spinoffs.

That may seem like too many sequels for a dog who plays sports, but the fans of the series would definitely argue with you. While only two of the Air Bud films were theatrical releases, they made almost $40 million. That’s right, films about a dog that played sports grossed tens of millions of dollars. While the series could be done now as a new iteration hasn’t come out in years, 14 films is a pretty impressive number for a franchise like this one.

https://www.amazon.ca/NEW-Air-Bud-Golden-Receiver/dp/B002WN8INY Via Amazon

8. Bloodfist

Based on the success of the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme martial arts movie Bloodsport, the Bloodfist franchise was created in 1989 in an attempt to capitalize. While it was not the best fighting movie ever created (it was actually pretty cheesy), it did have a moderately successful run at the box office, making much more than it cost to produce, as it earned $6 million on just a $1 million budget.

However, a movie like this was likely never going to be huge success. But that didn’t stop the creators from releasing an unbelievable eight sequels, in case viewers didn’t get enough martial arts or butt kicking in the first one. They were all pretty bad, and had ridiculous titles like Bloodfist V: Human Target, Bloodfist VIII: Trained to Kill, and Bloodfist 2050 (that’s right, they did a futuristic one too). None of them would go on to capture what the first one had, and to be honest, they probably didn’t need a single sequel, let alone nine of them.

https://www.amazon.com/Bloodfist-III-Don-Dragon-Wilson/dp/630582472X Via Amazon

7. Police Academy

Police Academy was released in theaters in 1984 and despite some fairly negative reviews, it performed pretty well. It made over $80 million in North America alone (and close to $150 million total). As a result of that success, sequels were inevitable. In total, there were six sequels spanning from 1985 to 1994. Unfortunately, none of those films were able to get close to replicating what the original had done.

Whereas the first film made almost $80 million, the next six only made a total of $150 million combined. The final installment, Mission to Moscow, ended up with just a limited theatrical release and made just $126,247 at the box office, losing almost $10 million for Warner Bros. They also continued to get mainly negative reviews for their immature content and slapstick humor. A franchise like this probably could’ve been a maximum of three films. Most people are surprised when you tell them there are seven.

6. The Fast and Furious

When the original The Fast and The Furious film was released in 2001, nobody knew it would go on to become one of the most popular movie franchises on the planet. To date, there have been eight films in this franchise, with the ninth installment coming in 2020.

When all is said and done, there is a good chance this franchise will contain at least ten movies full of action and crazy car chases. The return of Vin Diesel and the addition of stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson really kickstarted this franchise after it seemed like it was dead following the awful Tokyo Drift installment. Unlike some of the franchises on this list, most of the Fast and Furious films were very successful, as they have made over $5 billion combined, which makes this franchise one of the highest grossing ever. Unfortunately, the series was forced to continue without original star Paul Walker when the actor was killed in a car crash in 2013.

http://www.slashfilm.com/sequel-bits-rush-hour-4-fast-and-furious-9-director-and-more/ Via slashfilm.com

5. Friday the 13th

With a total of 12 films released as of 2017 (including the silly Freddy vs. Jason mash-up), the Friday the 13th franchise is one of the biggest horror movie franchises ever. While horror movies tend to have a lot of sequels (Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street are bad for this too), were going to bet that many of you didn’t know this franchise has a dozen!

People just cannot seem to stay away from Camp Crystal Lake and murderous Jason Voorhees. The Friday the 13th franchise is one of the most successful media entities of all time, and perhaps the biggest in the horror genre. While the films didn’t make crazy amounts of money and most of them weren’t incredibly well received by critics, there is no doubting it is revered by fans. Jason is one of the most recognizable figures in the horror genre and don’t be surprised to see even more films featuring the machete wielding, hockey mask wearing killer in the future. Hopefully they are better than the bad Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan and the downright awful Jason X.

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a33129/friday-the-13th-sequel-brad-fuller-interview/ Via esquire.com

4. The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther is a comedy-mystery movie franchise in which a silly French police detective named Inspector Jacques Clouseau is tasked with solving a variety of different crimes. Some of us might first remember the 2006 reboot in the franchise starring Steve Martin (as it was popular, made almost $160 million at the box office, and spawned a sequel of its own), but did you know that was actually the tenth movie in the franchise!!?

That’s right, beginning in 1963, there were nine Pink Panther films before the reboot, which many people likely don’t know about. Add in the 2009 sequel and this franchise has a massive total of 11 films under its belt. In addition to feature films, this franchise also had several short films and animated series as well. Plus a damn catchy theme song.

3. Planet of the Apes

While some people might think of the 2001 Mark Wahlberg version when we think of the Planet of the Apes franchise, that was already the sixth film in the series. The first film debuted in 1968 (a classic starring Charlton Heston with an amazing twist ending) and the most recent Planet of the Apes film released only a little while ago (in 2017).

The original was ground breaking for its use of prosthetics and makeup. Instead of the franchise floundering after a hot start, they continued to put out fairly popular films in the early 70s. Many people (especially those who are a bit younger) might have no idea that Planet of the Apes is a franchise that has had eight sequels/prequels over the last 50 years or so, and that makes the franchise a perfect candidate for this list. Here’s a handy guide of when each movie takes place, since the gaps in the timeline is slowly getting filled in.

https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/50615/in-what-order-should-i-watch-the-planet-of-the-apes-franchise Via movies.stackexchange.com

2. The Land Before Time

If you grew up in the 1990s, you likely remember watching The Land Before Time at least a couple of times. It was a wonderful film about some young dinosaurs on their journey through the world during the Prehistoric times. The original film made almost $85 million at the box office and was a big hit with children.

That first flick may have been the most popular, it wasn’t the end of the franchise. Far from it, in fact. In total, The Land Before Time had 13 sequels that went direct-to-video over the least two decades (plus a television series). Most people had no idea this had more than a couple sequels, let alone 13! Interesting enough, all of the sequels of this film were musicals, while the original was not.

http://thedailyengage.com/12-direct-to-video-sequels-you-didnt-know-existed/ Via thedailyengage.com

1. Godzilla

Out of all the movie monsters out there, Godzilla might just be the best. What you likely didn’t know about Godzilla is that there are quite a few movies about the large Japanese monster of folklore. We’re not talking seven or eight sequels — we’re talking over 30 different films, with even more in the works!

The original came out in 1954 and they are still making Godzilla films to this day, with the recent 2014 version being the latest in North America (Japan has a separate franchise that also spits out numerous sequels). It did over $250 million at the box office and the iconic creature will return in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters and 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong. It’s almost unbelievable to think about a franchise reaching over 30 films (and counting), even across multiple counties and movie studios. This number will grow even bigger as long as people continue to line up at the box office for Godzilla.

https://letterboxd.com/film/godzilla-2014/ Via letterboxd.com