There’s an awful lot of profit in sequels. That’s because sequels sometimes lead to franchises, and franchises are a fairly reliable way of drawing a consistent audience. The resulting profit is ultimately the reason why practically every film comes with the prospect of a potential sequel, something which has become so widespread that it’s now broadly accepted as an inevitability.
As a result of the financial incentive of sequels/franchises to studios (and perhaps, in part, the MCU popularizing the idea of teasing sequels in post-credits scenes), it’s no longer uncommon for a film to tease a follow-up in its final moments. Of course, it’s not a new trend, but it has become more frequent in recent years. With that frequency, however, comes the the increased chance that some of those sequel teases simply aren’t going to come to fruition.
That’s exactly where this list comes in: films that teased sequels, and then didn’t deliver. Some under-performed at the box office, and plans for their sequels were scrapped. Others drew the ire of critics, and others still fell foul of behind-the-scenes issues. There are even one or two entries that may yet see their sequels, if time and luck is on their side. Ultimately, though, these movies all teased sequels that just didn’t happen.
10. Fantastic Four (2015)
In comparison to many other films on this list, 2015’s Fantastic Four didn’t tease a sequel in quite so obvious a way, but the film still made the intention clear. The film’s climactic battle sees the titular team beat Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) by disintegrating him, selling an iconic villain incredibly short in the process. However, this final scene fully cements the four as a team, and the film ends with them establishing a base of operations and Reed Richards (Miles Teller) finally comes up with the perfect name for the team: the Fantastic Four. Roll credits.
What this does is affirm that these characters have a future, and that there are many more stories that could be told. Combined with the fact that a sequel was announced before the film even began filming, this is an explicit a tease as was really necessary, which was perhaps a bold move. A bold move that actually backfired somewhat, it would seem.
Even after Fantastic Four was met with scathing reviews and disappointing box office, the studio reaffirmed their intention to make a sequel. It wasn’t until later that the plans were officially scrapped, but by then the damage was done. The sequel had been announced, briefly teased, and then reannounced, and there were undoubtedly some in the audience desperately hoping to see Fant4stic 2 that were then incredibly disappointed at its cancellation.