Ti West's X franchise is on an unbeatable trajectory path. Along with having two critically acclaimed films under its belt in under one year, a third film, MaXXXine, received an official teaser days prior to the latest film, Pearl, hitting the big screen. While the release date for MaXXXine is not yet known, the speed at which the first two films had been created and released is remarkable, and it also shows a clear, dedicated vision for the franchise at large; however, the X trilogy is not the first horror franchise to pull off such a feat.

In 2021, Netflix released the Fear Street trilogy. Based on the books by R.L. Stine, the three films were shot all at once, and the time between each film's release was even smaller than that of X and Pearl's. The first part of Fear Street was released on July 2, 2021, and it concluded with the third part on July 16, 2021. While there are numerous things different about X and Fear Street, like how the latter was meant for streaming, it is interesting to see that in one year horror fans have gotten two new franchises dedicated to telling their stories over the course of multiple films in a small window of time.

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Netflix's Fear Street Broke the Production Mold

There is an inherent risk with this model, as it is unclear whether the first film of a franchise will do well. Often times the success of the first film will impact the likelihood of a sequel, unless something is from a well established franchise. For instance, it is almost a guarantee that a Marvel film will receive a sequel of some sort, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe also spent over a decade cultivating a franchise that can take that risk.

Meanwhile, franchises that are just starting out can not often afford that risk. It's safer to have a solid first entry that is mostly self-contained than it is to tease a sequel that could never happen. Even franchises with an established fandom or a few films under its belt can be cut short if the reception is poor. 2015's Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 both teased follow-up films that never came to be. They were also panned by fans and critics.

Another major risk is filming movies back to back. This is often not the case, as it can lead to major scheduling conflicts. This was the case for Netflix's After series, which lost several actors in part because it was filming the third and fourth film congruently. Meanwhile, the filming of the Avatar sequels congruently has helped lead to an over decade gap between the first and second movies, with the following films then being released over the course of several years -- until 2028.

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New Franchises Can Learn From X, Pearl and MaXXXine

The closing shot of the horror movie, Pearl

Fear Street and X, on the other hand, were willing to take that risk. As a streaming trilogy, Fear Street didn't have the same pressure of box office success as X did, but reception could have still impacted its future if it was a flop. Thankfully, it wasn't, and it wouldn't be surprising to see Netflix expand this world even more in the future. Meanwhile, X and its other movies have the pressure of the box office, on top of the fact that X was an original idea, where Fear Street was based on a nostalgic book series.

That makes the dedication to the franchise prior to X's initial release all the more impressive. West had a clear vision for this franchise while in production for X, as Pearl was secretly shot during this period. Two major factors came into Pearl's creation, according to IndieWire. The first was how horror films seemingly need to be part of a larger franchise or spawn one to be picked up. The second was it was during the pandemic, and West saw an opportunity to utilize what was built for X right away in a second film, as opposed to waiting and having to reconstruct what they already had.

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While Fear Street was planned out prior to production, it's still noteworthy that a sequel was born prior to X's release. Nowadays, public criticism -- good faith and bad faith alike -- can impact the direction a film goes. Notoriously this was the case for Sonic the Hedgehog's redesign, as well the overarching plot line for the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Instead of letting criticism potentially effect the way the follow-up film unfolded, A24 was in favor of Pearl before X ever hit theaters, showing faith in both the creatives behind it and the story. MaXXXine may still face some changes, as is the nature of filmmaking, but with how successful the franchise is so far, it seems like MaXXXine will stay true to whatever West's vision is because based on the trajectory of X and Pearl.

What Fear Street and X did was deliver two instant franchises that relied first on the power of a strong, connected story as opposed to audience and critical reception. They are also films that delivered a compact release schedule, partially thanks to congruent production schedules -- or in MaXXXine's case a production that begun shortly after X and Pearl came to be. While this is hard to achieve, if other films follow in Fear Street and X's footsteps, it could pave the way for more new, successful franchises instead of the same ones audiences have been indulging in for years.