10 Movie Spinoffs Much Better Than The Franchise That Spawned Them
Spinoffs can often be so much more than a quick cash-in on a popular franchise.
The movie business being accused of creative bankruptcy is hardly a new phenomenon, and it dates back decades to when industry insiders were lamenting the fact that John Wayne was still the biggest star in Hollywood and every second project to be announced seemed to be a Western.
However, those accusations have grown louder in recent years following the virtual death of the mid-budget movie, with many high-profile filmmakers migrating to streaming just so they can retain creative control as the studios place the majority of their focus on the $200m behemoths that bring in the biggest box office returns.
Sequels, remakes, reboots and spinoffs are almost an everyday occurrence now, and while many of them are transparently designed to cash in on a popular brand, there's more than a few that have been able to stand on their own merits and even surpass their predecessors on both a critical and commercial level.
It often seems like a lazy exercise in milking a cash cow for as long as possible, but if handled correctly a well-done spinoff is more than capable of delivering a great movie in its own right.
10. Penguins of Madagascar
The Madagascar franchise may have proven to be a huge hit with the intended target audience after earning almost $1.3bn at the box office and launching a lucrative multimedia revenue stream for Dreamworks, but it wouldn't be too harsh to say that they weren't exactly great movies.
Sure, they did the job that was required of them in keeping younger viewers occupied for a couple of hours, but the best animated movies appeal to everyone and the three Madagascar installments only provided the latest in an increasingly long line of uninspired and forgettable family films to roll off the production line.
That being said, spinoff Penguins of Madagascar turned out to be the best of the lot, which was largely down the the fact that it was the only entry that had any sort of originality about it. Admittedly, it was hardly breaking new cinematic ground, but the scene-stealing supporting players fared much better in their solo adventure than anyone could have predicted.