Movie franchises that got an unexpected second life

In 1995, Michael Bay directed Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in “Bad Boys,” a slick buddy cop action-comedy. That all made sense. After Smith’s star began to dip a bit, in 2003 all three reunited for “Bad Boys II.” While that’s a classic (if silly) action movie, it seems to be the end. Smith and Lawrence were no longer really stars, but maybe that’s what was needed for a second chance. “Bad Boys for Life” ended up being the highest-grossing film domestically when it came out. Sure, that’s because it was 2020 and COVID-19 killed the box office, but even so! That success led to “Bad Boys: Ride of Die,” a fourth film in a series that seemed like it was over after two.

One of the biggest movie franchises wasn’t supposed to play out like this. “The Fast and the Furious” was a low-budget heist movie based on an article about drag racing. The second film featured Paul Walker, but not Vin Diesel. “Tokyo Drift” was all new characters. This was the plan. They’d make cheap, episodic films tangentially related. Then, Vin Diesel, weirdo he is, had a plan. Cut to: Seven films, a spinoff, and at least one more movie to come.

“Alien” is one of the best horror movies ever made. James Cameron’s sequel “Aliens” is one of the better action movies. After that, we got a couple more sequels in the ‘90s, but they were kind of a shrug. There went the momentum. Ridley Scott, though, had a desire to return to the world he crafted with “Alien.” In 2012, 15 years after the last movie, Scott brought us the prequel “Prometheus,” which has now led to follow-ups “Covenant” and “Romulus.”

“Scream” was a landscape changer in 1996, and it was quickly followed by two sequels. There have since been a couple returns to the franchise. The first one, 2011’s “Scream 4,” didn’t necessarily give the franchise the “second life,” as it was one and done. Then, in 2022, the franchise did the “passing the torch” thing with a fifth film, which was quickly followed by a (cash-in?) sequel in 2023. We presume a seventh will arrive in due time.

“Rocky” was, fittingly, a Cinderella story. The low-budget movie basically gave Sylvester Stallone his career, and it won Best Picture. The sequels got bigger, and the box office returns were robust. Then, “Rocky V” kind of landed with a thud. In 2006, “Rocky Balboa” brought the franchise back, but it didn’t quite pop. What worked was changing the perspective. Stallone appeared as Rocky in “Creed,” moving the center of the story to Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, son of Apollo Creed. This one worked, paving the way for two “Creed” sequels.

The fact George Miller got “Mad Max” off the group at all is remarkable. He made the first film, his directorial debut, for barely any money in his native Australia. It became such a success he was able to make a couple of sequels in the 1980s. Miller went on to other things, but then he decided to bring Mad Max back. “Fury Road” arrived in 2015 and became a true cultural phenomenon. Many consider it the best action movie ever made. Miller has now spun off “Fury Road” with 2024’s “Furiosa,” keeping things going.

Steven Spielberg changed film with “Jurassic Park.” It was the highest-grossing movie of the year. Oh, and in 1993, he also won Best Director and Best Picture for “Schindler’s List.” Spielberg returned for the sequel, and then there was a third film in 2001. Hey, that’s a fine trilogy, and it seemed like it would be the end. Then, a reboot/reimagining occurred. We got a second trilogy of sorts, beginning with “Jurassic World” in 2015 and ending with “Dominion” in 2022. That film brought many of the key characters from both trilogies together in a way that was…briefly entertaining.

Now, you might be thinking, “Wait, new ‘Toy Story’ movies have come out fairly steadily since the first one, and we even got that weird spinoff ‘Lightyear’.” That is true, but none of that was in the plans. “Toy Story” was a hit, but in the 1990s, Disney did things differently. They approached Pixar for a sequel, but it was supposed to be a low-budget, direct-to-video cash in. Then, Disney liked what it was seeing, so it asked Pixar to make it a theatrical release. Pixar then revamped the entire story, and redid the animation, under a compressed time frame. “Toy Story 2” worked, and that allows the franchise to exist.

Sam Raimi made his debut film “The Evil Dead” with his buddy Bruce Campbell and barely any money. By becoming a cult favorite, it exceeded expectations. This led Raimi to get the chance to pseudo-remake it as “Evil Dead II,” working with a bigger budget and a little less grindhouse nastiness. That paved the way for 1992’s “Army of Darkness,” which was fun but seemed like the end of the line. Then, even not counting the 2013 remake “Evil Dead,” we got 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise,” a surprise return to the world of the franchise, even if it is a more straight-ahead horror movie.

This is a case of a franchise finding a second life by pivoting to what people wanted in the first place. When “The Purge” was to be released, there was plenty of talk about a horror movie about a world wherein all crime is legal for a day (and also plenty of jokes about what mundane crimes people would commit in such a scenario). Then, people saw “The Purge” and it was just kind of an inert, fairly dull horror movie. Well, maybe the people behind “The Purge” felt the same way. Starting with the second film, “The Purge: Anarchy” the franchise has brimmed with life, because now it is about a bunch of crazy, violent chaos and delivering the goods from a horror movie perspective.

“Crocodile Dundee” had a simple premise. Guy from the Outback comes to New York, instructs a few people about knives, and finds love. It was a huge hit, almost inexplicably big. Naturally, a quickie sequel was greenlit, but “Crocodile Dundee II” was basically just more of the same, and it was not as popular. Alright, so that’s that…right? Nope! In 2001, we got “Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.” This movie was a critical failure and a commercial fiasco, putting the final nail in Dundee’s coffin.

When you call your third movie in a series “The Last Crusade,” it feels like a definitive end to a trilogy. That did not prove to be the case for Indiana Jones. It helps that it seems to be the only character Harrison Ford actually has enjoyed playing. In 2008, “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” brought Ford, Karen Allen, and Steven Spielberg back into the fold. Its legacy has proven complicated, and Shia LeBeouf did not prove to be the heir apparent. Most assumed that would be, but Ford wanted to brandish the fedora and whip once more. In 2023, after much delay “Dial of Destiny” allowed the series to come to a close…we assume.

“Austin Powers” is another film franchise getting the “second life” designation for a different reason. The first movie, “International Man of Mystery,” is the best of the bunch, a fun riff on old James Bond movies, and also James Bond knockoffs. These days, it’s remembered by many as a big hit, but that actually wasn’t true. The movie made $67.7 million worldwide. That’s great given its budget of $16.5 million, but it’s far from remarkable. Domestically, “Austin Powers” finished 35th in the box office for 1997. It made less than “The Saint” and “Spawn.” So what happened? Home viewing! “Austin Powers” was huge on VHS and the new format known as DVD. This late-hitting popularity is the reason we got “The Spy Who Shagged Me,” which made $312 million worldwide, paving the way for a third film in “Goldmember.”

We could, in theory, talk of “second life” given that in “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” the Earth is destroyed, and then there were three sequels over the next three years. However, that was clearly a quick turnaround. We also aren’t talking about the woeful Tim Burton remake. No, where “Planet of the Apes” was reborn was with 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which decades later began a prequel series that is now four films deep.

We had the original “Star Wars” trilogy, one of the biggest trio of films in history. That was it for decades, but then George Lucas gave us the prequel trilogy, bringing “Star Wars” back to the big screen. They were…not good movies, and interest in the world of “Star Wars” waned again. Then, Disney bought the rights to “Star Wars” from Lucas, and gave us a third trilogy (and two other one-off films). Some people will never be happy about anything laser sword and Skywalker, so those films proved polarizing, but they brought the franchise back for a third life.