Hollywood loves to jump on a bandwagon. In an industry designed to generate the highest amount of revenue possible, studios will always be more inclined to hedge their bets on something that has already proven successful before. This is why original movies are becoming more and more scarce, with studios continually taking the safe option of making sequels, reboots, remakes and adaptations. For example, when Michael Bay's Transformers spawned a $2.7bn franchise the likes of GI Joe and Battleship were fast-tracked to the big screen. Similarly, the success of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction a decade previously saw the mid-90s become filled with pop culture referencing movies with fractured timelines. Whether it be a great high-concept pitch that spawned a dozen inferior rip-offs, a long dormant genre that was reinvigorated by one critical and commercial hit, or a cost-effective way of making and marketing movies, this article will look at ten movies that inadvertently started a huge cinematic trend. Do you agree that these movies started a cinematic trend? Are there any other movies that you would have included? As always, sound off in the comments below.
10. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
The Trend: Splitting the adaptation of a final book into two movies, and making big bucks in the process. The unprecedented success of the Harry Potter series has inspired a generation of franchises for better and for worse, and splitting The Deathly Hallows into two movies directly influenced its closest peers at the box office. The other two massively profitable literary franchises, The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games, followed the precedent set by Deathly Hallows Part 1 and released (or will release, in Mockingjay's case) their final installments in two parts. From a financial standpoint, it's a no-brainer. Deathly Hallows Part 1 grossed almost $960m on its own, and by the time Part 2 had finished its theatrical run the two-part finale had earned almost $2.3bn at the box office. Four months after the end of cinema's biggest franchise, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 was released and became the highest earner in the series yet with over $712m in the coffers. A year later, Part 2 smashed the franchise record by over $100m and when the dust had settled the final two movies had combined for well over $1.5bn, almost 50% of the series' total gross. By splitting the final chapter into two movies, both franchises allowed anticipation to reach fever pitch before releasing the last movie, in both cases securing record grosses in the process. With Catching Fire grossing almost $170m more than its predecessor thanks to an expanded international audience, it's almost a guarantee that it will follow the path set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and finish the series with a record box office total by the time Mockingjay Part 2 hits in November 2015. Hell, even the 300 page Hobbit was stretched out to three movies and looks set to trouble the $3bn mark with combined profits.
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