Unless the property in question has already been established as a shared universe where everything is connected, the inter-franchise crossover can often have an air of desperation surrounding it. On many occasions, it feels like the studio throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the mix, hoping that combining at least two iconic characters in the same movie will yield increased box office returns to keep the brand alive just that little bit longer.
2003’s Freddy vs. Jason was a great example of this, after it marked the first big screen appearance of the titular icons for a decade in a modern-day setting, discounting the futuristic Jason X. It wound up earning $116 million at the box office on a $30 million budget, which at the time was the most money either A Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th had ever seen, proving that these mashups are almost always profitable.