It is very rare that each successive installment of a movie franchise outperforms its previous installment in ROI. In my movie ROI database (1000+ titles from 1926 to present), only two others - Despicable Me, and Lord of the Rings - accomplish it!

Putting box office over budget, the ROI for each installment is as follows (and sorry for the crappy formatting, I'm not sure how to clean it up):

• Despicable Me paid $7.73
• Despicable Me 2 paid $12.77
• Despicable Me 3 paid $12.89
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring paid $9.37
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers paid $11.73
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King paid $11.90
• Olympus Has Fallen paid $2.30
• London Has Fallen paid $3.43
• Angel Has Fallen paid $3.67

Having said that, the average ROI across the 1000+ titles is $4.23 - as such, Has Fallen is below average, and clearly nowhere near the class of the aforementioned two franchises, ROI-wise. However, to keep increasing the pay from installment to installment is some kind of achievement in itself.

There's a fourth installment coming, but it remains to be seen whether it will have a theatrical release at all or go streaming, in which case we won't get the box office to compare apples to apples. As production information becomes available, let's revisit and see if there'll be sufficient info upon which we might speculate on the ROI number as to whether this franchise remains in this exclusive club or drops out.

Making a movie is risky. Producers are betting they'll get the formula right and make money. How do you know if a 4th installment of a successful franchise will make money? You don't - you make it, and wait and see... Lethal Weapon was in this exclusive club through three installments, but got shown the door on the 4th:

• Lethal Weapon paid $8.01
• Lethal Weapon 2 paid $9.11
• Lethal Weapon 3 paid $9.19
• Lethal Weapon 4 paid $2.04