Look, let's get down to it. I'm willing to bet that by virtue of being on this site, you know your cinema onions. After all, you wouldn't down this far into the internet's rabbit hole without some sort of burning passion for film, or at least a slight curiosity. And like all film fans myself included we can all be a pretty merciless bunch, especially when it comes to failure. So really, there's nothing we like better than a failing franchise. We can all pretend we're altruistic, but there's a reason why we watch Youtube clips like fat woman falling down stairs. To laugh at misfortune is an unfortunate thing, but this schadenfreude is embedded deep within our DNA. So when we as film-going enthusiasts see a franchise which continues to slump from disaster to disaster, you can bet we're going to mock that low-hanging fruit. When the good ship Twilight, Insert-Genre-Here Movie or Transformers continues to run aground with every attempt, we're all over that like a pack of hyenas on a three-legged cat. Yet sometimes, despite years of embarrassment and the occasional colossal misstep, certain franchises can suddenly improve, hoist themselves of the piñata string and escape our critical bat-swinging. It's to these franchises that this article is dedicated. They're in no particular order and I must point out, a mild
SPOILER WARNING is in effect.