There are a lot of movie trends that could potentially define the 2010s, but one of the most significant is the era of the reboot. Reboots were seen as a way to inject some new life into a fading franchise and allow them to start from scratch. While reboots theoretically gained popularity with 2005's Batman Begins, the last decade has seen a lot of these films pop up.
Sometimes these reboots are just what a franchise needs, like with Nolan's Batman films or 2009's Star Trek. However, sometimes these reboots fall flat and the franchise is buried deeper into the ground. Here are the worst franchise reboots of the decade, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Terminator Genisys (26%)
The Terminator Genisys.
This movie reintroduced Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor (now played by Jai Courtney and Emilia Clarke) and brought Arnold Schwarzenegger back for the action. However, messing with the timelines to tell a new story didn't result in much fun and the movie was dismissed as a boring return of the series.
Conan The Barbarian (24%)
Conan is another Schwarzenegger franchise that hasn't had much luck in recent years. While Schwarzenegger was long-rumored to return to the series, they eventually decided to start over with Jason Momoa in the titular role.
The movie embraced the raw violence of the original source material but that's where the praise for the film ended. The dull effects and one-dimensional characters provided no excitement for the adventure, and despite looking the part, Momoa seemed unprepared to carry a film at this stage of his career.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (22%)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a beloved children's property that seems perfectly suited for a big-screen adventure. However, with Michael Bay's name attached to the project, fans started panicking about what this reboot would be like. With the titular characters' unpopular redesign and Megan Fox cast as intrepid reporter April O'Neill, those concerns seemed well-founded.
Critics were shocked by how dull a movie about mutant ninja turtles could actually be. Though they itted it wasn't offensively awful, it was still seen as a loud and messy slog without any real entertainment.
Hellboy (17%)
Hellboy was not exactly a household name before Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman brought the character to the big screen. That original film and its sequel had plenty of fans who were upset to hear the franchise would be rebooted with David Harbour stepping into the lead role as the big red hero.
As fans had feared, the reboot failed to match the inventiveness or fun of the original film. Despite the best efforts from Harbour, there was not much to work with and the film was sadly seen as a soulless attempt to revisit a series without any understanding of what fans enjoyed.
The Mummy (16%)
Tom Cruise is not an actor who has many genuine failures in his filmography, but Dark Universe cinematic series featuring all those classic movie monsters.
The critical and audience reception was so overwhelmingly negative for this film, it effectively ended the Dark Universe in one fell swoop. The film failed to find a fun vibe or embrace its horror elements. Instead, it came off like a poor imitation of Cruise's typical action movies.
The Transporter Refueled (16%)
The Transporter franchise was never considered a critically lauded franchise but the movies were fun, mindless action blockbusters and helped introduce Jason Statham as a modern movie badass. The Transporter Refueled recast Statham's hero with Ed Skrein taking the wheel for a brand-new high-speed adventure.
Skrein failed to make the same impression as Statham did in the original film, but that wasn't even the least of the reboot's issues. A boring script and lack of inventive action sequences made this a pointless revisiting of a series that didn't need to make a comeback.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (15%)
After decades and countless sequels, the Freddy Krueger back for a new take on the tale. This time Jackie Earle Haley played the killer who invades your nightmares.
Despite Haley's talents, the update was a misfire which failed to capture any of the fun of the original. The young cast failed to bring the story alive and the pointless recreations of classic scenes felt like poor imitations rather than worthwhile homages.
Alex Cross (12%)
Alex Cross is not a name many people would recognize right away, but he has a lengthy series of James Patterson novels to his name. The character, a psychologist and police lieutenant, was played by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Tyler Perry takes over the role of this origin story.
Critics pointed out that any potential from the actors in the movie was undone by the poor and messy direction as well as a ridiculous script. The film failed to make much of an impression at all and certainly didn't elevate the character into becoming more of a household name.
Hitman: Agent 47 (9%)
Video game movies are notoriously difficult to get right. Or maybe these stories are just not meant to be told in movie format. Regardless, they keep making them and even revisiting ones that failed the first time around. Hitman: Agent 47 starred Rupert Friend taking over the role Timothy Olyphant played in the unsuccessful original.
Critics pointed out that even with how poorly received the original film was, this reboot still failed to clear that very low bar. The movie was devoid of interesting action, which makes for a deeply disappointing action film.
Fantastic Four (9%)
The 2010s saw the superhero Fantastic Four. Marvel's first family already headed a poorly-received couple of films, so fans were excited to see what Josh Trank could do with a grittier approach and a talented young cast.
The film was reportedly marred by behind-the-scenes dramas and reshoots, which are very noticeable in the finished film. The movie jumps around aimlessly, the cast is given nothing to do and the overall product is surprisingly lifeless for a superhero movie.
