10 Film Franchises That Became Something Else Entirely

It is often said of the Harry Potter movies that they grew up with their audience, which is the perfect way of describing them.

The first two films are children's movies through and through. Everything from the music to the colour palette to the action screamed "take your ten-year-old to see me!" and, to their immense credit, this worked.

As the lead trio grew up/weren't cute anymore, the films took a decidedly darker tone. This kicked off with the appearance of the dementor in Prisoner of Azkaban, a moment that wet the pants of unsuspecting children the world over.

Things shifted again when Voldemort made his return to the land of the living, giving Harry et al a physical embodiment of evil to fight with. By the time the final two movies were being shown, these were not kids' films anymore.

Imagine how out of place a game of Quidditch or Wizard's Chess would have looked in either of the Deathly Hallows films. Conversely, just think what the reaction would have been like to the Bathilda Bagshot sequence if it had made its way into The Philospher's Stone.

That's not a world worth thinking about.