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What is the greatest movie franchise ever?
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- Scott Tobias, Catherine Shoard, Charles Bramesco, Adrian Horton, Andrew Lawrence, Benjamin Lee, Radheyan Simonpillai, Veronica Esposito, Jesse Hassenger, J Oliver Conroy, Andrew Pulver
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- May 27 2024
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- 2205 words
In the action realm, Mission Impossible has to be pretty high in the rankings.
I'm on board with this. Those films are underrated, well, except for the most recent entry which had a lot of wasted time and a muddled plot. Aside from that, though, I'd say it's been the most reliable and remarkably consistent franchise out there which is no small feat at seven movies, with two more on the way. I still think that Tom is a bit... touched... but he's a reliable actor with a fine selection of films to his credit.
I dunno, for me the franchise kind of started falling off after Ghost Protocol. The newer entries haven't necessarily been bad, but they all kind of blend together for me and I can't really recall the plots to any of them, or even which movies had which cool stunts.
I liked the series a lot more when each new film got a new director. It made them all feel very unique. I'd like to see David Leitch or Chad Stahelski take on one of these.
Nah, Fallout is one of the best action movies of the 2010s.
I think it lands pretty firmly behind Fury Road and the John Wick movies. And Ghost Protocol, nothing in it really topped the Burj Khalifa climb for me.
Ghost Protocol was supposed to launch Brad Bird’s live-action directorial career. It was supposed to pave the way for 1906. All lights were green! Then he did Tomorrowland and everything went sideways. But I’m still rooting for him.
I'm very excited to hear opinions on this!
Some unmentioned ones I'd put somewhere in contention for very different reasons:
Somebody’s gotta say Back to the Future! The whole trilogy is a treat, it’s smart and fun, full of details to obsess over and a great musical score to boot. It still holds up very well today. Honestly though one of my favorite things about it is that it’s been left alone… unlike so many other franchises I’ve loved, BttF has resisted being dragged back to the well for a nostalgia cash-in. I’m sure in today’s Hollywood there are some execs who would love to cast Tom Hiddleston and Timothee Chalamet as Doc and Marty for a Part IV, but somehow that hasn’t happened yet.
This is the correct answer. There is no trilogy that can hold its own when compared to BTTF. It's smart, it's concise, it's funny, it moves quickly with no wasted time or wasted scenes, it's got excellent character development, and all three films interplay with each other in a way that no other trilogy has even attempted, let alone matched. In fact, if I'm putting BTTF as my number one, I'm leaving the number two slot blank just to drive home how much better it is than the rest of the list.
/thread
If we ever get a Kill Bill v3 I may put that into my number two spot. :)
Idk I feel like the second and third back to the future are significantly worse then the first one.
It hasn't happened yet because Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale refuse to let it happen. I think that is a good call on their part. Comedies are the hardest to make sequels to, especially decades after the fact.
I recently listened to The Rewatchables episode of Back to the Future 2 and when discussing the potential for remakes someone threw out the idea of Tom Holland and Bill Hader as Marty and Doc. I'm kind of into it.
Tom Holland? Maybe. Bill Hader? Eh. How about Bryan Cranston? Now I could get behind that.
Note: This comment does not constitute an endorsement for a BttF remake!
Bill Hader is such a great actor and obsessed with old movies I'm sure he would bring a lot of flair to that whole. Doc is kind of an amalgam of several classic crazy (b) movie scientists.
I honestly believe he would be better suited for that role than Bryan Cranston.
I also see Michael Keaton in that role.
When it comes to replacing MJF that's so difficult. No one has that level of charisma and star quality, I think. His performance was lightning in a bottle. Tom Holland is fine I guess.
Jason Mantzoukas as Doc.
Derek!
he'd be perfect for it. Nobody else has that crazed energy.
It also predictively programs trump!
It predicts Trump. Predictive programming is not real.
I am unsure on what to call a franchise. I wouldn't consider a closed trilogy like LOTR a franchise on its own, but maybe with the addition of The Hobbit movies and the TV show it has become one. And then to consider a good franchise, I would say it need somewhat consistent good quality and not a great set of movies and then terrible ones. Most franchises have blunders of course.
As a true franchise, I am partial to James Bond on that list. Not that every movie is a masterpiece but all worth watching and it keeps a consistent style.
The biggest franchise of them all would be Star Trek for me, though the movies are the lesser part of that.
I agree. Elsewhere someone mentioned the Back to the Future films, but that is a trilogy, not an open-ended franchise like the Bond series. Robert Zemeckis has even explicitly ruled out any further films.
Yes, but it also had an animated tv series, a theatre production, a musical production, a pinball machine, a theme park attraction, a bunch of video games, and a huge amount of toy merchandise.
Movies are called franchises because they sell the rights to the IP to other companies who produce product or content, and that's clearly happened with BttF.
The point of the discussion is to compare the quality of different series of films. The fact that there may be videogames or toys derived from a given film is irrelevant.
And I’m still mourning the loss of the theme park ride, it was GREAT!
Anything you think of as a franchise probably is when you look at all the other products involved in it.
Bond feels like an unusually strong contender to me since it's been around for so long and, as far as I know, there's no truly awful movies in the franchise. Eras, of course, but each is watchable at least.
I guess Fast & Furious also counts in a similar "reliable" space since they're all, well, predictable movies about racing cars? Sometimes out of airplanes?
There must be others in this space, maybe Transformers counts too since it's hitting 10+ years of reliably pulpy robot fighting schlock?
I'm a big Bond guy, but eh there's definitely a handful of really bad Bond movies. I do think it is the franchise and because of it's tendency to chase trends you can see the evolution of what's been popular through the Bond movies.
Which ones are bad? I've seen some that were just ok but I can't think of a bad one.
The sort of generally accepted bad Bond movies are: Die Another Day, Man With The Golden Gun, Diamonds are Forever, and Spectre.
I've only watched two of the Moore films, but I thought Live and Let Die was bad, so I can't even begin to imagine how much worse Golden Gun and Diamonds are.
How did Spectre make your list but Quantum of Solace didn't... Of all the Daniel Craig Bond films QoS was the worst in every way.
Quantum of Solace I thought was a breezy fun short movie. Spectre is way too long, way too slow, and way too dumb.
Oh man, you got more out of it than I did. I've got to agree with Roger Moore on this one: "[Craig was a] damn good Bond, but the film as a whole, there was a bit too much flash cutting, it was just like a commercial of the action. There didn't seem to be any geography, and you were wondering what the hell was going on."
Yeah that’s still part of the Jason Bourne influence.
What’s interesting about Quantum of Solace, is when you go on the James Bond subreddit, those guys love it. Like there’s a lot of Bond fans that unironically like it more than Skyfall (which I believe is the best Bond). It’s been reappraised like License to Kill was.
I don’t go that far, but as a companion piece to Casino Royale and as an action movie I think it’s pretty solid.
I might have to go on a bad bond binge now.
Longer than that now... about 17 years... but I wouldn't call it great. Did you know they released a movie last year? I had no idea.
The main Harry Potter films by themselves are remarkable for not having a critically poorly received film. On the other hand, none of them are great films by themselves (as opposed to LOTR, Godfather 1 & 2, Star Wars IV & V, Star Trek II, etc).
Granted, if you include the Fantastic Beast movies then you run into serious problems.
Bourne trilogy!!
Well, The Godfather was one of the intellectual properties that helped popularize sequels. It had 5 books, 3 movies, two console/PC video games, one mobile game, and one tabletop game. There's probably more Godfather media I don't know about. If that's not a franchise I don't know what is.
I struggle to identify personal 'greatest movie franchise' ever. What interesting for me is that author of article did separate all 9 (8?) Spider-Man movies into franchise. Personally I'm not sure that it make sense, Tom Hollands Spider-Man is definitely part of Avengers franchise but who am I to judge?
Hm. After some thinking I quite like (in a way) Fast and Furious franchise. Ridiculous, cheese, pathetic, sometime cringe inducing and self-mocking and joy to watch? Yep.
Oh, and I have warm feeling for Alien franchise too. Mostly because of aesthetic.
New Dune? Probably, but too early to judge.
I like how CHILDS PLAY go in so many strange directions. And EVIL DEAD (although it's mostly a triology) is good fun, going steadily more mainstream.
But then there's OLSEN BANDEN—don't want to rewatch them. They had their time—but I'm pretty sure they were the most successful movie franchise (in Denmark), and I like the naive and exaggerated style of the folkekomedie. I also like how they follow the exact same pattern: Egon getting out of jail, Egon executing his new master plan, Egon getting arrested. It is basically the Road Runner cartoons as a movie franchise.
Ha - how could I forget the best movie franchise of all time! Though international appeal is probably limited. Fun tidbit about that scene, is that Bent Fabricius Bjerre had to rewrite the music of Elverhøj to make it fit with the script. Few people probably noticed and I am sure most Danes will see this as the canocial version now.
Is the limited international appeal from lack of awareness, or from cultural content not translating well? I love foreign movies, but know very little of Denmark.
On reconsideration my statement might not be entirely true, as the Norwegians loved it so much they remade basically all the movies with their own actors and there is also a sizeable fanbase in Germany. However, the premise of the style and humor is deeply rooted in Danish jargon and cultural references, so it is not exactly something that easily goes beyond borders like international Danish hits like Another Round or The Celebration.
Just popping in to sound the bell for my beloved Predator franchise and appreciate that it made the list. If you haven't seen Prey yet I think it's a great way of bridging the franchise into a new era. Amber Midthunder was freaking amazing in taking up the mantle from Arnie.
I'm so glad that the Before trilogy got mentioned in this list. It's usually overlooked in discussions about franchises, series, trilogies, etc. as it's not in the blockbuster nor action genre. I don't know if it's the best franchise out there, but it is definitely the best trilogy of movies in my opinion - yes, surpassing Lord of the Rings and the Bourne trilogy (but that is then my top 3!)
It's a shame what happened to the Bourne universe. Legacy was a fine movie but it was too bad how far removed it was from the original vibe and story. I mean, it's clearly set in the same universe and it deals with the same agency and everything, but it still somehow did not feel connected. And the fifth Bourne movie was also an alright action movie, and despite bringing back Damon, it felt even less connected to the original trilogy than Legacy did. The vibe was off even more in this installment which is just such a shame. I usually don't mind attempts at reviving franchises, but at this point I would hope they left it alone for good - or at least called it something else entirely if they do go for a reboot one day, where none of the original Bourne movies are canon. Bourne Identity is still the best action movie I've ever seen though, so there's simply no way they will top it anyway.
I never saw any of the movies after Ultimatum but it was a great trilogy. Paul Greengrass’s tripod-hostile cinematography notwithstanding.
I thought it was very well pulled off. The first movie is still my favourite by far though, it's a very rare 10/10 movie for me. Directed not by Paul Greengrass but by Doug Liman, who is the person they should have gotten to direct the 2016 Bourne movie.
Nicky, Julia Styles character, dying felt like there was no gravity to it. I felt like her departure from the state department could have added to Bourne's storyline ultimately, but so much for that. Also, with Legacy, how is Bourne physically on par with the genetically modified soldiers? It's never explained how he is seemingly equivalent to them.
I think I read an explanation for that actually, but I can't remember anymore - besides, I can forgive plot holes like that if the product is overall good. Main point is that neither of these movies were worthy successors of the originals
Leprechaun. The ones with Warwick Davis.
Here’s the thing. I hate franchise movies. They’re pandering and dumb. Leprechaun - and pretty much every schlocky horror franchise in its ilk - is at least self-aware about it and continuously ups the ante with every film. I think more people appreciate Chucky/Childs Play more, but I feel that those movies have lost something when they became popular. The schlock, I guess.
The film series has wonderful terrible things like having a woman die from exploding TNA, and they follow up the one where they send the leprechaun to space by taking him to “the hood” to meet Ice-T.
Hannibal Lecter franchise... Manhunter (1986), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002), Hannibal Rising (2007)
Last two are just slightly above average in my opinion though.
Spaceballs. While the first movie is a classic, Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money far surpasses it with it's illusory humor, unbelievable premise, and intangible budget.
Disney animated films. I know it probably doesn't count but from a consistent theming, high level of quality and overall branding, they really did a wonderful job for a very very long time.
The intro credits with illuminated pages or other static art were by themselves gorgeous.
I was thinking Bud Spencer & Terence Hill movies, but I can't put a name on the franchise. All of them share many things in common and they can be branded... Mybe simple Spencer&Hill "brand"?
Neither the article or the comments so far bring up the Nolan/Bale Batman trilogy. I guess it doesn't really count unless you include all the other Batmen, but even then I'd reckon they can hold their weight against the other titles.
Despite some major whiffs, the Rocky/Creed franchise is up there as well.
I don't know if it's "the greatest ever", but Planet of the Apes has a remarkably high batting average, certainly better than some of the franchises listed in the article. Especially the reboot series that started in 2011. This is made extra impressive by just how many movies they've managed to stretch such a ridiculous premise over without really losing its luster.
Back to the future.