10 Horror Movies That Changed Their Franchise

5. Alien 3

Evil Dead II
20th Century Studios

By the time the much-maligned Alien 3 came to a close, the three most popular characters in the franchise - plus android Bishop - had all been killed off, leaving the Alien series in a place it's struggled to ever recover from.

In the time since Alien 3's release in 1992, Alien Resurrection arrived in 1997 and was extremely poorly received; the two Alien vs. Predator pictures of 2004 and 2007 tarnished both properties; 2012's Prometheus did its best to not be an Alien movie; and 2017's Alien: Covenant had a sense of desperation to it in how it attempted to rekindle what made the first two pictures so successful.

How did Alien 3 really change the franchise, then? Well, there was so much in this threequel that not only changed the very basis of the series, but just outright soured fans. As for said souring, first and foremost was the baffling decision to kill Hicks and Newt off-screen in the movie's opening moments. Then came franchise lead Ellen Ripley, who threw herself to a fiery death at the film's close, which essentially took Ripley off the table for any further sequels.

Alien 3 meant that if the franchise was to continue on, it would need to either veer in a different direction or completely retcon what had gone before. As such, that's why we ended up with Resurrection taking place 200 years after its predecessor and with a Ripley clone at its core.

 
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.