Every franchise has a panic button marked “prequel” for when fresh ideas are hard to come by, and it arrived only three films in for the Underworld saga when Rise of the Lycans landed in January 2009.
To be fair, the third installment does rank as the second best-reviewed entry of the quintet, even if a Rotten Tomatoes score of 29 percent is hardly a barometer of cinematic excellence. On the other hand, a measly box office haul of $91 million was the lowest to date, indicating that a leather-clad fantasy actioner without star Kate Beckinsale’s Selene was hardly a huge draw for the fandom.