5 Movie Franchises That Got Better Over Time (And 5 That Got A Whole Lot Worse)

It isn't exactly surprising that the longer a franchise carries on for the more prone it becomes to inconsistency because after all, there are only so many times you can put a fresh spin on an existing formula when you start reaching fourth, fifth or even sixth installments.

A lot of times, when a long-running movie series suffers from a drop in box office returns or constantly declining reactions from audiences, the decision is made to simply to hit the reset button and start all over again with a reboot. However, many of Hollywood's biggest franchises have continued on for years or even decades without being forced into making wholesale changes to the mythology.

That being said, the success ratio isn't exactly 100% and countless franchises that once marked the apex of blockbuster filmmaking found themselves being overcome by the law of diminishing returns, with many failing to arrest their descent into mediocrity.

Some franchises have aged like a fine wine and continue to improve as time goes on, while others haven't been so fortunate and ended up overstaying their welcome while refusing to adapt or move with the times, and more often than not the fans have been the ones to let them know about it.

Rocky Balboa has shown incredible staying power to remain one of modern cinema's most iconic characters, with Sylvester Stallone picking up two Academy Award nominations for playing the world's most famous fictional boxer almost 40 years apart.

However, the franchise flirted dangerously close to self-parody on several occasions before returning from an extended hiatus to leave the notion that Rocky was past his prime laying on the canvas staring at the lights. Rocky IV isn't a particularly good movie but remains a firm fan favorite based almost entirely on the cheese factor, while the fifth installment is rightly regarded as the worst by quite some distance.

Not wanting to go out on his back, sixteen years later Rocky Balboa marked a stirring and acclaimed rebirth for the veteran fighter, before Stallone seamlessly slipped into a supporting role a decade after that as the Creed spinoffs saw a franchise that looked to be dead in the water come roaring back to life to find a new and hugely successful lease of life, both with critics and at the box office.