When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone cast a spell over the planet’s moviegoers, studio executives everywhere scrambled to find the next sure thing – as the reasoning must have gone, if the suits could just get their hands on another series of fantasy novels about plucky young people caught up in larger-than-life situations, then they too would earn enough gold to fill Gringotts Wizarding Bank, right?
Wrong. The last decade has seen a number of would-be franchise tentpoles burn out after just one movie. Here’s a look at some of the more prominent road kill left in Harry Potter’s wake: