10 Times Changing The Tone Saved Movie Franchises

There was a time when the Pink Panther was nothing more than a diamond McGuffin that many characters were after, with Inspector Jacques Clouseau just another part of the ensemble. Weirdly, looking back, the original tried to play it straight. At least in the scenes excluding Peter Sellers' Clouseau, the story strays much closer to a classic caper rather than a comedy. It's not that The Pink Panther was a bad film, far from it. But it's hard to see the series have longevity with that status quo.

Thankfully, the seeds of success were there in the form of Sellers' scene-stealing performance. The production recognised Clouseau's potential and wanted to lean into his comedic character going forward. So they immediately re-worked a play based on a French farce to be a vessel for Inspector Clouseau's first venture into the spotlight.

Putting it together made them so confident in A Shot In The Dark that they released it only 3 months after the original. And with good reason, as it not only introduced the likes of Kato and Dreyfus, who are now mainstays for Pink Pather, but also created a foundation for Clouseau that audiences came back to see time and time again.