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We’ve all heard plenty of horror stories about successful films riding the rush of critical and box office acclaim, announcing a bunch of planned sequels that are then delayed, or stuck in development hell for decades, or simply never come out at all. There’s really only one foolproof way to stop this well known phenomenon from happening: make all your movies at the same time.

That’s not exactly feasible for your average production — most directors and cast focus on making one movie at a time — but for movie franchises with big studio money and beloved stars and veteran directors on board, it happens more often than you’d think. Usually productions employ this tactic when there are sequels to a successful first film to be made, but sometimes the first film and its sequel(s) are made simultaneously, both to streamline the production process and to make sure there’s actually something to release when production is done.

This is called “back-to-back” production, and it has plenty of perks. Audiences won’t have to wait so long for the next movie in the series. Studios can save money by only transporting everyone to and from an on location shoot once. Plot arcs across films will make more sense because they were written and filmed at the same time. Subsequent movies will have a cohesive aesthetic design, and will look visually like they’re multiple parts of a whole. Here, we’ve gathered ten of the most famous back-to-back film productions in movie history, and explained exactly why they did it.

READ MORE: Beloved Film Franchises That Desperately Need New Sequels

There aren’t many things that are worse than sitting down to watch a movie that promises romance, excitement, tension, and thrills, only to discover a few minutes in that the leads have no chemistry with each other. There’s a reason that productions of any sort tend to do “chemistry reads” with their cast members to see how well they work together, even before anyone is officially cast. This chemistry doesn’t always have to be romantic — but in a rom-com, it definitely does.

Still, movies come out and their audiences are disappointed by the lack of spark between the lead actors. Even consummate professionals, rom-com veterans, or simply actors who are really great in other stuff sometimes can’t jump this simple hurdle, and since the movie rides only on the strength of its romance, these films often feel lacking some essential element. It’s difficult to say what makes great chemistry and what doesn’t, but you certainly notice the lack when there isn’t any.

Because we love to torture ourselves, we revisited some of the most famously unbelievable couples in rom-com history, whose actors, professionals though they are, just couldn’t seem to hit it off. Some of these movies are famous flops, and some were hits but failed to stand the test of time. Maybe there’s a weird energy, or maybe they just aren’t playing off each other’s vibe the way that they should, or maybe they’re simply unbelievable as a romantic pairing together. For whatever reason, these movies tried to make it work, but left the audience on read.

READ MORE: The 10 Worst Romantic Comedy Cliches