10 Movie Franchises That Surprisingly Got Better

10. The Fast & The Furious

Back when the Fast and the Furious franchise launched in 2001, nobody could've ever expected it to become a mammoth, billion-dollar pop-culture phenomenon, let alone one which also ended up critically acclaimed.

The original movie was a shamelessly cheesy vehicular action flick that touted an endearingly trashy charm.

The first three sequels that followed, however, were wildly divergent in quality, switching-out cast members at the drop of a hat and making it tough for a larger audience to get truly invested in the franchise.

But everything changed with 2011's Fast Five, which downplayed the niche petrolhead larks and re-shaped the series into a broader heist blockbuster, complete with the added presence of Dwayne "Franchise Viagra" Johnson.

The series has enjoyed a major critical and commercial uptick ever since, reliably serving up entertainingly daft banter between its huge ensemble and knowingly ridiculous, deliciously crafted set-pieces.

No major tentpole franchise has pivoted away from mediocrity quite this impressively, and even with the series about to diverge into spin-off territory with its ninth movie, Hobbs & Shaw, it doesn't seem remotely out of gas yet.