9 Movie Franchise Staples That Actually Came From Sequels

3. Eye Of The Tiger - Rocky III

Whether you hear it in a movie, on the radio, or during the dying embers of a throwback 80s disco, Survivor's Eye of the Tiger immediately conjures up images of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky knocking people out in a boxing ring. The franchise pretty much made the song a hit, and even today there's no shortage of parodies of the tune being played over training montages. In fact, to many people it's probably more associated with the brand than the actual main series score.

It's a genuine pop-culture phenomenon which cemented Rocky as the biggest franchise in the world at the time - all despite the fact that it didn't actually debut in the series until the third movie, and didn't show up again at all after.

Still, the song and its lyrics were intertwined so closely with that flick - to the point where the title of the track was constantly referenced to highlight Rocky's character arc through the story - that is became synonymous with The Italian Stallion as a whole, allowing it to transcend the single movie it appeared in.