When a single movie achieves vast success, the people behind it often seek to capitalize on the results, usually with a sequel. Sometimes, they may think more ambitiously by creating a full-fledged franchise or even a cinematic universe, connecting several various characters.
However, creating a giant franchise or evolving movies into a cinematic universe requires meticulous planning that not everyone can do. As a result, some franchises may be doomed from the start, while others may fall apart after a long line of installments. However, every once in a while, a franchise may release a single movie that can win back the crowd.
10 Bumblebee (2018) Succeeded With Lovable Characters, Stellar Humor, And A Simple Premise
Although the live-action Transformers movies were mainly financial hits, audiences and critics were not as kind. Most fans disliked the poor taste in humor, poorly-written human characters, who took up more spotlight than the Transformers, and the over-complicated plot. By the time of the fifth film, most audiences were tired of these tropes.
Bumblebee (2018) came out a year after the fifth film, and it would be difficult to win over audiences with the poor taste of the latter still hanging. However, the Transformers felt closer than ever to their animated counterparts. The human characters had an immense likability due to the actors' stellar performances. The story was simple to follow, with a strange but heartwarming friendship between the protagonists.
9 Wonder Woman (2017) Added New Style And Substance To The DCEU
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Marvel's success at building a cinematic universe prompted DC to try the same with the DC Extended Universe. However, they rushed out their efforts to expand, and their first three movies were met with mixed to hostile critical reception, even on individual merits.
The quality of Wonder Woman (2017) surprised most fans and even the detractors of the DCEU. It had a far more colorful environment and a lead superhero with an innocent likability that defined her heroics. Its only downside was its somewhat hackneyed third act, but even that was solely a product of executive meddling.
8 Creed (2015) Brought Praise For The Rocky Franchise On Par With Its Roots
The Rocky franchise started strong but gradually lost its charm, beginning with the third movie. Although little could capture the praise of the first two, the franchise went out on a satisfying note in 2006.
Nine years later, Creed (2015) got released as a spin-off film where Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) trains Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the son of the franchise's former champion, Apollo Creed. The film worked with a massive failure in Rocky V. Stallone, and Jordan gave solid performances, and their characters gave the franchise new life while staying true to the spirit of the first two films.
7 Batman Begins Returned The Caped Crusader's Seriousness
After Batman and Robin flopped in 1997, most audiences assumed there would be no way to bring back Batman's renowned reputation on the big screen. Batman still flew high in cartoons, but little was particularly groundbreaking to transition to theaters.
However, eight years later, the franchise got rebooted with Batman Begins under director Christopher Nolan. The story laid new depth and foundations for Bruce Wayne's origin story, and it took a more down-to-earth approach compared to the oddities of the Tim Burton films, which made for an exciting style for future DC movies.
6 X-Men: First Class Shined Through Being More Fun Than Previous Installments
The X-Men movies played a huge role in Marvel's success before and during the Marvel Cinematic Universe's run. However, things dwindled with the odd choices made in X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
X-Men: First Class was a prequel focusing on the origins of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, aka Professor X and Magneto. While it was a tad more light-hearted than the previous films, especially with its setting, it allowed for some amusing rapport between the characters and entertaining action that returned enjoyment to the franchise.
5 Captain America: Civil War Deviated From The Norm And Pushed The Envelope
Although the MCU was still a big success before this movie, most fans were beginning to catch on to their formula. The jokes were getting repetitive, audiences could easily see the means to set up a new character or storyline, and nothing was particularly groundbreaking or compelling.
Captain America: Civil War changed that by introducing two new significant protagonists into the mix who blend perfectly into the MCU's line-up. It also had a compelling conflict between Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) that makes both of them sympathetic and spurs gripping discussions even with all the time passed.
4 Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Revived A Shaky Franchise
The Planet of the Apes franchise had plenty of substance and entertainment in the late 60s and early 70s. However, a reboot in 2001, despite some decent special effects, sadly failed to resurge the franchise, with a muddled plot and a nonsensical ending.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes emerged a decade later and won over an underestimating crowd. It provided a sincere origin story and an endearing ape character, Caesar, brought to life through an impressive performance and motion capture by Andy Serkis. The film would spawn two other equally remarkable sequels and make an above-average franchise something more.
3 Spider-Man: Homecoming Provided A Fresh New Spin For The Web-Slinger
After two movie incarnations of Spider-Man that did not go out on a high note, it seemed like the web-slinger could never have a bright future on the big screen. However, the MCU incorporated Spider-Man into Civil War with a glossed-over but well-described origin and an entertaining performance by Tom Holland.
Although the MCU's first Spider-Man solo film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, was hardly the best Spider-Man film, it was arguably the most fun. Holland's performance made audiences enjoy his shenanigans, providing an energy missing in other Spider-Man films. At the same time, the sequels would slowly work backward into delivering an origin story for the hardships usually associated with the character.
2 Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Crafted A Distinct Identity For The Franchise
Although the Mission Impossible movies generally had a warm critical reception, they eventually became outclassed by other spy films. On top of that, Tom Cruise's popularity was steadily waning in the eyes of the public.
However, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol succeeded in turning things around. The film expanded on Ethan Hunt while providing plenty of highlights for supporting characters such as Benji and Brandt. It made the characters feel like a unique unit. It also showcases stunts on a far bigger scale, breaking new ground, and would only continue to do so in the sequels.
1 Godzilla (2014) Breathed New Life Into A Tired Genre
Although Godzilla was a popular character in pop culture, he didn't often get to make an impact worthy of his stature on the big screen. It also didn't help that some audiences were slowly becoming tired of the monster genre at the time of the 2014 movie's release.
However, Godzilla (2014) was far more faithful to the character's spirit, keeping accurate to the abilities shown in the Japanese movies. It had an ideal balance of human drama and some impressive visual effects that bolstered the significance of Godzilla's threat.