8 Small-Scale Movies That Blew Up Into Blockbuster Action Franchises

Alien wasn't the first action movie to feature a female in the lead role, but it was certainly the one that forced the industry to take the idea of action heroines seriously. Sigourney Weaver proved, beyond a doubt, that she was 100 percent badass and that central protagonists did not, in fact, need a penis in order to be a legitimate threat.

Of course, the idea of Ellen Ripley as an iconic action star didn't really take hold until the James Cameron-helmed sequel, Aliens.

The original film in the series is more of a psychological horror movie featuring grim set pieces, symbolic Freudian imagery, and a whole lot of tension. In fact, there's very little physical fighting that takes place in that film, because the monster is rarely seen. It's more about what's lurking in the shadows.

The sequel shucks most of that subtle symbolism and simmering terror in favor of a balls-out, sci-fi action extravaganza that didn't hold back on the in-your-face effects or gunplay.

Also, there were mech-robots. Can you get much more blockbuster-y than mech-robots?

The franchise bounced back and forth between genres over the next couple of decades, regressing into the bleak horror for Alien 3, then injecting more action into Joss Whedon's Alien: Resurrection, before going into complete popcorn flick territory with the Alien Vs. Predator movies.