Go to Space
Ah yes, the space approach. Typically the butt of every joke involving long-running franchises (or just franchises that are in their fourth installments), going to space tends to mean a franchise is on its last legs. Let’s take a look and see if this approach is really a good idea though.
Typically, once a franchise goes to space it is already in its direct-to-video phase. Just look at Leprechaun 4: In Space and Critters 4.
Following the dumb-but-fun Critters 3 (which featured a young Leonardo DiCaprio in his first film role), Critters 4 recruited the likes of Brad Dorif and Angela Bassett(!) to battle the nefarious Krites in space.
What can one say about Critters 4? It’s a forgettable entry in a B-movie franchise (which I happen to adore). The film wasn’t trying to be great, it just wanted to make what little amount of money that it could on VHS.
At least Critters 4 tries to maintain some continuity with the franchise. The same cannot be said for Leprechaun 4: In Space. Leprechaun 4 is a peculiar beast. It eschews all of the plot from the films that came before it, and still manages to be terrible. Personally, I find it quite entertaining, but that still doesn’t mean it’s a good movie.
Sometimes, when a franchise goes to space, it also goes back to theaters. This is the case with Jason X and Hellraiser IV: Bloodline. I confess, I thought it was just the first two Hellraiser films that went to theaters. Boy was I wrong.
Shockingly, the Hellraiser franchise was never that lucrative. The first film made $29.3 million and its sequel made a mere $21.4 million domestically. It went even further downhill from there, with the second sequel pulling in just $21.1 million. Bloodline would go on to gross a measly $14.1 million. Clearly, audiences didn’t like the idea of Pinhead in space The film was a sequel and a prequel, so it technically qualifies for two spots on this list.
The failure of Hellraiser IV isn’t because of the space setting, but rather because producers demanded script alterations during filming so that Pinhead would show up on screen earlier in he film (originally, he wouldn’t have shown up until the 1-hour mark of the film. The original version of the sequel probably wouldn’t have been an Academy-award contender, but studio tampering never makes a film better.
Hellraiser IV was received slightly better than Hellraiser III, but it was still a critical and commercial failure. This would cause the film to become the last theatrically released film in the series.
Turning out attention to one of the more notorious franchises to be sent to space, Jason X was hated by nearly everyone at the time of its release. It has since gained a very small cult following (of which I am a member). Going through the box office numbers of every film in the franchise would be futile. The franchise produced less-than-stellar numbers ever since Friday the 13th: Part VI was released in 1986. Jason X grossed $22.8 million on a $14.7 million budget. That’s not atrocious, but it’s certainly not good. The success of Freddy Vs. Jason just two years later would put Jason X to shame.
Jason X is not a very well-loved entry in the Friday the 13th franchise. Not only did it disregard all continuity from Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, it was an intentional horror comedy. It gets a bad rap, but it is actually better than many of the later films in the franchise. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s completely different from every installment that came before it.
It’s odd that so many people seem to hate Jason X, but facts are facts. It represented the death of the original Friday the 13th franchise. It dug a hole so deep that the franchise was never able to recover. We’ll probably never get the 11th installment that the final scene of Jason X set up, but it will always be fun to wonder what could have been.
One has to ask: why do filmmakers and film studios send their horror franchises to space? Do they think it will work? Or are they just trying to kill their babies? The reasoning behind this approach is unclear, but one thing is certain: if you send your franchise to space, you are hammering the final nail into its coffin. While I may enjoy some of these films, the fact remains that if your franchise didn’t start in space, don’t send it there. It will be unable to recover (unless you’re Hellraiser and you keep churning out terrible direct-to-video installments).
What are your thoughts on the subject? Are you open to a horror movie franchise diverting from the formula and changing direction? Or are you opposed to change. Maybe, like myself, you don’t really care as long as the final product is a quality film. Let us know in the comments below or shoot me a Tweet if you would like to discuss further!
