15 Years Ago Today, This $150M Sci-Fi Adaptation Instantly Killed Its Franchise (& It’s Being Rebooted)

Massively successful franchises like Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games have shown there’s a lot of money to be made by adapting popular young-adult novels to the big screen. As this trend reached its peak in the 2010s, it didn’t come as a surprise when a variety of studios looked to cash in with their own series that could potentially be the next Harry Potter or Hunger Games. Of course, as with any Hollywood trend, some titles were more successful than others. While The Maze Runner spawned a full trilogy, some would-be franchises were woefully cut short before they even had a chance to begin.

Case in point: I Am Number Four, which was based on the novel of the same name by Pittacus Lore (the pen name of author James Frey). Released in theaters on February 18, 2011, the hope was it would be the start of a new sci-fi movie franchise. When I Am Number Four premiered, the second novel in the series, The Power of Six, was just a handful of months away and there were more installments planned. Unfortunately, I Am Number Four grossed only $149.9 million worldwide against a production budget of $60 million, so any plans for follow-ups were cancelled. However, there’s still hope for fans of the books.

An I Am Number Four Reboot Is In the Works

With a story revolving around a teenage alien on the run from deadly pursuers hunting his kind down, I Am Number Four had a lot of potential. There’s a case to be made that it was a sci-fi series cancelled too soon since the creative team never had an opportunity to really find their footing and build upon a solid foundation. However, it’s easy to see why distributor Disney wasn’t interested in follow-ups. I Am Number Four earned largely negative reviews (32% on Rotten Tomatoes), with many criticizing a lack of storytelling originality and the acting. That word of mouth didn’t do the film any favors at the box office, leading to the underwhelming performance.

I Am Number Four had a budget of just $60 million, which is relatively cheap compared to the price tags of some of its contemporaries. But while it wasn’t an outright bomb, studio executives were clearly hoping for a better showing at the box office. It would have been hard to justify the investment for a sequel, especially since the critical reception was so poor. If a The Power of Six adaptation came out shortly after, that might have fared even worse. However, more than a decade after I Am Number Four flamed out of theaters, the IP looks to be getting a new lease on life.

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Back in 2024, Frey told the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Gazette that an I Am Number Four reboot was in development, though it’s been quiet on that front since. It remains to be seen if the new film ever gets off the ground. The fact that it’s been a couple of years with seemingly no movement forward isn’t an encouraging sign. Oddly, the reboot is said to have screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Miller (who penned the script for the original) attached. If true, that’s a strange creative decision since reboots are typically an opportunity to bring a fresh creative voice in for a different perspective. Gough and Miller’s original version fell short, so it’s worth wondering if their second stab at I Am Number Four would have different results.

Perhaps Gough and Miller learned some valuable lessons the first time around and can implement a different approach to the reboot. The Lorien Legacies source material is rich enough to support a movie series if the filmmakers find the right way to crack the story, and the continued success of the Hunger Games movies (with prequel The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping due out this year) illustrates there’s still an audience for these kinds of films. If the I Am Number Four reboot does indeed come to fruition, hopefully Gough, Miller, and their director has better luck and they can realize the full lore and mythology on screen.

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