10 Movies That Saved Their Respective Franchises

The Child's Play movies were in trouble by the early 90s with the killer doll concept wearing thin. In fact, several franchises had become dormant by this time. Jason had gone to hell, Freddy was dead, and Michael was busy dealing with the Cult of Thorn. But with the success of 1996's Scream, the slasher genre was revived and in turn, so was our killer doll.

Bride of Chucky follows the tongue-in-cheek approach of many late '90s slashers. Rather than play the voodoo angle straight, the sequel takes things more comedic and campy. New to the film was Tiffany Valentine played by Jennifer Tilly. As Chucky's old flame and female counterpart, the character would become a mainstay and added a new element to the franchise. The film also redesigns the titular character and gives him a stitched appearance after his demise in Child's Play 3.

The film's ability to adapt to modern times would be the key to Chucky's long-running success. With creator Don Mancini involved in every installment, he'd introduce new elements to the series while honoring the previous outings. This can be seen in sequel Seed of Chucky, a further two direct-to-DVD sequels, and the ongoing SyFy TV series.