Big movie franchises know that being successful means understanding when there is a need for change. Some of the biggest movie franchises that have thrived and remembered are those that were not afraid to change things every now and then. Especially those who were not afraid to change the genre of their sequel, to avoid the audience from getting bored of the same old theme.
Captain America
The Captain America Trilogy stands out from other Marvel trilogies for shifting to a new genre for each of the films. Captain America: The First Avenger, the very first film of the trilogy is a war action and drama film set in the World War II period. The second film, The Winter Soldier was a political thriller with some action elements and has a much slower pace. The third film, Civil War is a fully packed, action blockbuster with all of the Avengers in it.
Friday the 13th
A franchise can at any point change its genre and create a good film. That is what happened with Friday the 13th franchise. It took them 10 movies to realize they need a change. Before Jason X, every movie was simply a horror with some hint of humor. But when Jason X came out, it had no horror at all. Instead, the movie was sci-fi with an action sequence.
The Purge
Now, this franchise with every movie kept shifting away from the horror theme. And each movie of the Purge franchise also managed to bring new ideas and had a bigger scope. The first movie was a film based on a family living in a small suburban, in a small house when the world experiences the Purge. The first sequel of the film came back with Frank Grillo, the action movie star, and it was a survival action film. Each sequel after is an apocalyptic survival film.
Terminator
The first and the second movie of the terminator franchise are so different in the way they were made, it’s hard to believe that they were the work of the same director. The first film of the franchise was a slasher horror film. The lead caused rampage wherever he went in the search of Sarah Connor. The second movie, Terminator 2: Judgement Day was entirely different. Terminator was now a good character. The movie explored further into the time travel idea and became a sci-fi. After that, every movie of the franchise has tried to match the tone of the first sequel.
Child’s Play
The very first movie of the Child’s Play franchise was a simple horror about a doll possessed by a serial killer who tries to swap and possess an 11-year-old boy instead. The tone continued more or less until the third movie of the franchise. The trilogy remained horror. With the entry of Bride of Chucky, things changed and the movie was more of a comedy with the horror element. And with the Seed of Chucky, the franchise turned completely towards the comedy genre. The franchise became a full-on parody and satire in itself.
