7 Movie Spinoffs That Were Better Than The Original
4. Creed
The Rocky series cemented itself as an important part of cinematic history largely off the back of the high quality of the first film. The sequel is good, the third is okay, and the fourth and fifth are just bad.
Rocky Balboa managed to get things back on track a little, but it still felt like more of the same, making it glaringly obvious that the franchise needed to reinvent itself and head in a fresh direction. And in 2015, up stepped Creed.
The best entry in the series since the 1976 original, nobody truly expected the movie to be as good as it was, but thanks to a pair of stellar performances by Michael B. Jordan and the Oscar-nominated Sylvester Stallone, a punchy, modern energy imbued by director Ryan Coogler, and - crucially - by doing something different with the Rocky character, Creed was exactly what the series needed: a movie that captured the spirit of the original, but still tried to boldly forge its own path.
Creed is up there with Batman Begins and Casino Royale in terms of making a tired franchise feel exciting again, and it did all of this while somehow managing to feel like the natural continuation of Rocky's story. Well played, Mr. Coogler. Well played.