Summary
- Franchises sometimes alter direction by ignoring previous entries, like 2018’s Halloween and Terminator: Dark Fate.
- Jurassic World and X-Men: Days of Future Past successfully reinvigorated their franchises by disregarding certain sequels and rewriting history.
- Superman Returns pays homage to the original Superman films while creating a new storyline that focuses on the character’s return and redemption.
Occasionally, filmmakers decide to take a franchise in a different direction by adding a new film and ignoring other entries in the same franchise. Whether earlier films killed off a main character, ended on a note that didn’t suit the future films, or creatives wanted to tread new ground, it’s not that uncommon for franchises to change direction after a few films. Usually, this method requires completely ignoring previous sequels and just going back to a specific point, usually, the height of the franchise’s success.
Some of these rewrites can appear subtle and almost appear to follow on from an earlier entry, like with Jurassic World, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that it ignored its predecessors. Others go for a much more direct approach, like 2018’s Halloween which disregarded everything from the previous sequels, and only included the original film as part of the canon. Either way, these movies completely changed their franchises and set things on a new course.
8 Halloween (2018)
The Eleventh Sequel And The Second Entry
After the series had already fragmented with multiple sequels, spin-offs, and alternative adaptations such as the Rob Zombie films, the studios decided to take things back to basics. The 2018 Halloween film serves as a direct sequel to the 1978 movie when Michael goes on a killing spree in the quaint little town of Haddonfield. With 40 years having passed, Michael has been locked in the local psychiatric hospital, but he finally manages to escape while being transported to another unit. The movie was a success, earning record-breaking box office numbers for a slasher, and led to two more sequels rounding out the series.
7 Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
The Return Of James Cameron
Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released in 1991, and due to various issues with ownership and drama behind the scenes, James Cameron lost interest in making a sequel. As a result, it took twelve years to make T3: Rise of the Machines. Following T3, another two sequels were made without any involvement from Cameron. When Cameron was approached by Tim Miller about working on a new sequel that would disregard the other films and follow the events of T2, Cameron was persuaded to join the project. With support from Cameron, Miller and his team created a movie that certainly exceeded the now alternate timeline, but couldn’t quite recapture the magic of T2.
6 Jurassic World (2015)
What’s Happening With Isla Sorna
Jurassic World and its sequels skip around any mention of the events that occurred in The Lost Kingdom: Jurassic Park, and Jurassic Park III. While the previous two sequels shone a light on what happened to John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and the dinosaur islands, Jurassic World provides an alternative future for Hammond with his dreams of creating a dinosaur-focused theme park coming to fruition. With the flexibility and freedom provided by moving away from these sequels, Jurassic World managed to thoroughly reinvigorate the franchise, with the first entry alone earning almost $1.7 billion.
5 Rocky Balboa (2006)
A New Diagnosis
In Rocky V, Rocky is diagnosed with cavum septum pellucidum or CSP. A condition affecting his brain, due to severe head trauma from his previous fight with Ivan Drago. This condition is what forces Rocky to step away from fighting and retire, before deciding to get into coaching. Rocky Balboa sees an even older Rocky who revels in the success and stories of his glory days, running a successful restaurant named in memory of his wife. The sixth entry also sees Rocky decide to reenter the ring to fight a young champion, Mason Dixon, with no mention of his diagnosis. The latter sequel provided a more definitive end to Rocky’s career than the anti-climax of Rocky V.
4 X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)
A Two-Way Sequel
X-Men: Days of Future Past worked their retcon into the plot and fabric of the movie itself. The movie is a sequel to both X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: First Class due to the crossing over of timelines and rewriting of history. When the future becomes a dark dystopian hellscape with sentinel robots eradicating mutants, Charles sends Logan back in time to right the wrongs that led to this point in history. The movie sees Logan successfully alter the past, which in turn changes the future and restores many of the characters who died in The Last Stand back to life, with history clearly altered.
3 Superman Returns (2006)
A Tribute To Christopher Reeve
Despite being the sixth film in the Superman franchise up to that point, Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh as the titular hero, is a sequel to the events of Superman II and ignores the other sequels. Superman has been absent from Earth for five years, having spent time exploring the ruins of his former home, Krypton. The story digs into a Superman who must return to his position as protector, fight to regain the trust of the woman he is deeply in love with, and accept and embrace his role as a protector of the Earth.
2 Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
The Replacement Third Film
In this epic conclusion to the Jaws franchise, Jaws: The Revenge sees the Brody family face off against the terrifying great white shark that plagued their family in earlier films. The film makes some edits to what came before with Jaws 3-D, altering what it is that Mike Brody does for a living. In Jaws 3-D, he works as an engineer at SeaWorld, whereas the fourth film clearly shows him working as a marine research scientist. In addition to this, there are no direct continuations of the story or anything else to suggest that Jaws 3-D is actually canonical to Jaws: The Revenge.
1 The Exorcist III (1990)
Erases The Second, But Keeps The Numbered Continuity
Despite being titled, The Exorcist III, the third entry in the franchise completely disregards any of the events of the second movie. It takes place 15 years after the original, and the main protagonist of the film is a character who returns from the first, Lieutenant William F. Kinderman. Due to the terrible reception of The Exorcist II: The Heretic, and the implied connection to The Exorcist III, the latest entry was doomed to underperform, despite the scares and story being fairly strong.
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