Even before the first film in the The Mortal Instruments series, City Of Bones, opened in theaters, Constantin Film was already prepping the second installment in the franchise, City Of Ashes. With City Of Bones still in theaters, production on the sequel was scheduled to begin next week. But our Pre-Hatch Chicken Counting Desk brings word that principal photography on Ashes has been indefinitely postponed. TheWrap has an official statement from Constantin Film:

“Pushing back the start of production of City Of Ashes was a decision we did not take lightly. But after speaking with all of our partners on the creative and distribution side, it was clear that it will be beneficial to have more time to reposition the film in the current market place. The Mortal Instruments series has an incredibly loyal and ardent fan base and is a bestselling book series. While taking Cassandra Clare’s vision to the screen, we want to make sure to draw on the full potential of the franchise.”

Clearly, the first film, City Of Bones, has not lived up to its full potential, at least at the box office. In a month of release, the film has grossed less than $30 million in the U.S. against a reported budget of $60 million. Those are not exactly the sort of numbers you want to see as you rush a direct sequel by the same director (Harald Zwart) and cast (Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jonathan Rhys Meyers) into production. Don’t be shocked if, when City Of Ashes does finally happen, it looks a little bit different than City Of Bones (beyond the obvious addition of ashes and the subtraction of bones).

Or hey, what about this? Reboot! The window between versions of franchises is shrinking all the time. They rebooted Spider-Man ten years after the first film, and five years after the last one; they rebooted Superman seven years after he “returned” in 2006. Just call a mulligan and start it all over again. It’s already been a month. That’s like forever in the world of instant gratification.