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News & Current Events Mar 24, 2026 at 12:14 AM

What movies do you feel could've been better if they were removed from their franchises and became standalones?

Posted by mrmonster459

For example, I believe Shang-Chi could have been one of the best action movies of recent years, if it simply wasn't a Marvel movie; if it didn't have the shoehorned, distracting Marvel cameos/references, and maybe didn't end with obligatory big Marvel CGI monster fight, I genuinely think we'd have had the next John Wick. What movies do you feel would've been better if they weren't part of their series/franchises?
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USSZim Mar 24, 2026 +7
10 Cloverfield Lane was originally its own thing. It has the name which carried some expectations and kind of spoils the question of whether there was a real threat. I think the name change was good for marketing, but detracts from the movie itself
7
HenryDorsettCase47 Mar 24, 2026 +3
The third Cloverfield film was also an original script initially. A reverse example of the prompt, A Quiet Place was originally developed as another Cloverfield movie, but it was decided that it may work better as a standalone.
3
earlofcheddar Mar 24, 2026 +6
First Blood shouldn’t have had any sequels
6
mikeyfreshh Mar 24, 2026 +4
Live Free or Die Hard is a pretty good action movie and a pretty terrible Die Hard movie
4
mechabeast Mar 24, 2026 +1
Wasn't the 2nd one the only "written to be Die Hard" movie?
1
GravSlingshot Mar 24, 2026 +3
That's the fifth one. 2 was based on the novel *58 Minutes*.
3
Hi_Im_Dadbot Mar 24, 2026 +6
Keeping with the Marvel theme, Eternals would have been a much better movie if it had been a stand alone idea as opposed to shoehorning it into the MCU.
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binger5 Mar 24, 2026 +3
It would be so much better as a series.
3
SurviveDaddy Mar 24, 2026 +4
[Halloween III: Season of the Witch](https://boxd.it/1VFc) (1982) It got a lot of shit at the time, for not having Michael Myers in it. In the end, it’s better than 90% of the movies in the series.
4
mikeyfreshh Mar 24, 2026 +5
That movie f****** rules. Carpenter wanted to turn the Halloween franchise into an anthology series and I think he was right. There are 3-4 decent Halloween movies after Season of the Witch and I have to assume the anthology route would have had a much higher hit rate.
5
HorizontalBob Mar 24, 2026 +3
Halloween Ends would also have been better separately.
3
BootleggedBart Mar 24, 2026 +2
I thought Ouija: Origin of Evil was great but could have been even better if the ending didn't have to connect to the first film
2
ehunke Mar 24, 2026 +1
Halloween 3 stands well on its own as a fun scare, it just doesn't work as part of the halloween franchise
1
mechabeast Mar 24, 2026 +1
Halloween wasn't supposed to be a Micheal Myers franchise, it just reverted back to one.
1
kitbiggz Mar 24, 2026 +1
Tokyo drift
1
H2Oloo-Sunset Mar 24, 2026 +1
It's not exactly a franchise, but I think that "2010, The Year We Make Contact" would be much better thought of if it wasn't linked to 2001.
1
PattyLovesPiL Mar 24, 2026 +1
Rush Hour
1
damiankw Mar 24, 2026 +1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). I believe they ruined the visual of the turtles, the story wasn't necessarily turtle-esque and if they just made a stand-alone movie of a group of four fighters it would have hit a lot better I reckon.
1
InertiasCreep Mar 24, 2026 +1
Godfather III
1
darkallen Mar 24, 2026 -5
I think if sleeping dog gets made then it could be the dark underworld/asian gangster movie
-5
FassyDriver Mar 24, 2026 +5
bro answered with a movie that doesn´t even exist yet
5
GravSlingshot Mar 24, 2026 +1
And would be based on a game that is standalone and not part of a franchise.
1
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