5 Movie Franchises That Got Better Over Time (And 5 That Got A Whole Lot Worse)

10. Better: Rocky

Rocky Balboa has shown incredible staying power to remain one of modern cinema's most iconic characters, with Sylvester Stallone picking up two Academy Award nominations for playing the world's most famous fictional boxer almost 40 years apart.

However, the franchise flirted dangerously close to self-parody on several occasions before returning from an extended hiatus to leave the notion that Rocky was past his prime laying on the canvas staring at the lights. Rocky IV isn't a particularly good movie but remains a firm fan favorite based almost entirely on the cheese factor, while the fifth installment is rightly regarded as the worst by quite some distance.

Not wanting to go out on his back, sixteen years later Rocky Balboa marked a stirring and acclaimed rebirth for the veteran fighter, before Stallone seamlessly slipped into a supporting role a decade after that as the Creed spinoffs saw a franchise that looked to be dead in the water come roaring back to life to find a new and hugely successful lease of life, both with critics and at the box office.