Franchise Projects Shouldn't be a Makeover
Andy Marken January 20, 2025
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I'm going to tell you a story. It's going to sound ridiculous. The longer I talk, the more rational it's going to appear. Cage, Edge of Tomorrow, Warner Bros, 2014
On a recent long flight, we didn't find a film that really turned us on so we went with what should be a shoo-in for us, two long-time sequel hero joining forces Godzilla vs Kong.
We've been enthralled with Godzilla since we saw the special effects Eiji Tsuburaya did for his first 1954 film and how Godzilla has improved over the 38 films.
We thought Kong was humorous the first time we saw him in his 1933 debut but hanging atop the Empire State building and watching biplanes fly around was so-so. He has had a mixed run since then when it comes to scripts and special effects.
Trust us, Godzilla vs Kong didn't add anything to either one of their portfolios.
If we really get into a project, we want to see the sequel, prequel and spin-off to see how the storylines improve, how the actors develop and how the FX gets better to make everything better.
That's especially true of Alien, Terminator, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, John Wick, Matrix, James Bond, Mad Max, Despicable Me, Avatar, Rocky/Creed and Planet of the Apes. Oh, sure, there are a ton more and some of them we liked somewhat but there were only a few we really had to see a couple of times.
What really blew us away was Planet of the Apes and Alien.
The production and post crews were outstanding with the Apes series, it was like each team was hellbent on being better than the one before. And they were.
The latest release makes you really believe you're actually watching apes going through all of the action, complete with realistic lines and ape sounds. Seeing the raw cut along with the final makes the film even more special.
Each new VFX artist was involved and their move to CGI was mindboggling because the gorillas, monkeys, baboons, etc. looked and acted more intelligent, more real, more natural in each film.
With three more Planet of the Apes on the calendar, the franchise is going to make everyone involved in the project feel as though they have really done something special and will set a high bar for other franchise projects.
Yeah, we liked the latest a lot!
Alien was a different beast all together (pun intended).
Loved the shock of the baby popping out of the guy's chest in the first and the close-up drools of the alien. In fact, the drooling got better with each new release even though we did sorta miss Sigourney Weaver facing off with the big ugly dude this time.
That has to be really tough on anyone involved in the first or second film and then have to sit through future versions whether it is as a writer, producer/director, electrician, DP, lighting tech, video/sound editor, VFX/animation artist, actor or whatever.
Some people spend the time, talking/hollering at the screen telling em how they would have done it better.
Fortunately, we only sit and enjoy/marvel what the master crafts persons do.
That's when we decided to take a closer look at the whole sequel/prequel game because there shouldn't be that many right? Heck, everyone wants to do projects that are original, fresh, new. It turns out we're wrong, so wrong.
Good n Plenty - There are a lot of good film franchises with creative people cranking out sequels, prequels, spin-offs and remakes; but they shouldn't be bad and only rest on their past successes.
There's also Dark Knight + Joker + Penguin (same family), Moana, Lion King, Terminator, John Wick, MI, Venom, Captain America/Spiderman/Avengers (family), LotR, Jurassic, Shrek, Frozen Bond, Mad Max, Despicable, Deadpool, Fast Five, Avatar, Rocky/Creed and more.
But the constant stream of sequels, remakes and spinoffs aren't a sure bet to make a bundle.
Some shouldn't have been or shouldn't be done. You know, Black Panther after the loss of Chad Boseman, Crow after Brandon Lee's death, Roadhouse after Patrick Swayze passed; heck, even Fast & Furious after Paul Walker's accident.
Everything that followed the loss of a major actor just didn't feel the same. Almost as though the studios were dancing on the graves.
Okay, not that bad but just sayin'
We'll See - Even without today's technical advances, the Creature from the Black Lagoon made us wonder what if or maybe, which made swimming in non-swimming pools challenging for years.
Jaws and all the shark movies that have followed, never kept us out of the ocean but there was always a certain wariness about rivers, ponds and lakes after watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon. We'll see if the remake has the same effect but doubt it.
With all of the upcoming franchise releases coming up, some folks like to say the industry is running out of good story ideas, so they fall back on the sure things the stuff that worked/made money in the past.
Actually, a sequel/prequel/spinoff is tougher to pull off because you know the latest chapter the others based on the same premise, storyline, actors.
Talk about pressure.
Your work is always being compared to the other guy's, even when the other guy (or gal) is you.
Warner Bros has been shelving and writing down the value of many of it's superhero/adventure series by hundreds of millions but expects a couple of Barbie spinoffs, copies in the near future.
Paramount has done the same with a bunch of their franchises that didn't fare well.
Sony did okay with a number of their IP franchise projects, as did Universal.
Disney is faring well at the box office, on their streaming service and in their family locations.
A number of tracking experts - and especially industry publications - lament the new seque
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Franchise Projects Shouldn't be a Makeover 
