Top 5 – Franchise Reboots

Tomorrow, Paul Fieg’s Ghostbusters hits theaters, much to the dismay of internet trolls.  This is a reboot of the classic 1984 paranormal comedy.  For those who don’t know the difference between a reboot and a sequel, a sequel continues with the same overall story from a previous film and a reboot is essentially a reinvention of a familiar property, like Ghostbusters.  Same characters, new stories, new filmmaking, different actors.  So in honor of Ghostbusters, here is a look at the best franchise reboots, the ones that changed a franchise forever.

5 – STAR TREK (J.J. Abrams, 2009)

There are a number of pop culture battles.  Michael Jackson vs Prince, 2-Pac vs Biggie, Marvel vs D.C., and so on.  For me, the biggest one is Star Wars vs Star Trek.  In my house growing up, it was all Star Wars, all the time.  I, in fact, didn’t even like Star Trek.  That was until 2009 when I saw J.J. Abrams’ vision of Star Trek.  Abrams made one of the most surprisingly entertaining and enjoyable summer blockbusters I have seen in a long while.  With it’s great cast, including a star-making turn from Chris Pine, its explosive action, and smart plot, this is a fun, entertaining film that took the Star Trek series to new heights.

4 – RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (Rupert Wyatt, 2011)

I’m not going to lie, I never thought the Planet of the Apes films were that great.  The greatest thing to come from this franchise was the hilarious parody scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of the most underrated sci-fi movies of this decade.  This movie showed the origin of Caesar and how he became the leader of the apes and it showed this without showing too much and leaving a lot of room for sequels, like the brilliant 2014 sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  Andy Serkis’s motion capture work is legendary, and the movie is filled with tension, intelligence, and thrills.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes is one of the finest prequels of the millennium.

3 – CASINO ROYALE (Martin Campbell, 2006)

After 2002’s Die Another Day, the James Bond franchise had hit an all-time low.  Then, Casino Royale comes out and literally changes everything we know about James Bond.  Never before had Bond been this dark and this gritty.  Daniel Craig still had the swagger of Sean Connery and Roger Moore, but added a pain and a ruthlessness that was never seen from the secret agent.  With it’s new look, plus the Bond standard of slick action, fast cars, and sexy girls, Casino Royale is my favorite James Bond movie ever.

2 – MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (George Miller, 2015)

When you try to reinvent a film series where the last film came out over 30 years ago, you have a steep, uphill climb to bring in new fans while also keeping the fans of the original.  And that is exactly what Mad Max: Fury Road did.  This movie is the reason why we go to the cinemas.  This is a big, bold, rambunctious film that could have only been made by George Miller and is extraordinary vision.  Tom Hardy took the reigns from Mel Gibson as Max and Charlize Theron gives a fearless, tough performance as Furiosa.  Winner or six Oscars, a huge box office, and a sequel on the way, this is as good as movies get.

1 – BATMAN BEGINS (Christopher Nolan, 2005)

Mad Max Fury Road is probably the best overall movie on the list, but no film in the history of cinema had more of a cultural impact than Batman Begins.  After the techno-colored skid marks that were Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), the name Batman was forever tainted.  After many failed attempts to get the franchise going again, Warner Brothers took a gamble by hiring Christopher Nolan to direct, who at the time only had three films to his resume, and Christian Bale to take over as Batman, even though he was big in the cult scene with Newsies (1992) and American Psycho (2000).  The result is one of the finest comic book intro movies ever.  Showing the caped crusader’s roots before he officially became Batman, Batman Begins became the most personal Batman film to date and elevated the film aesthetically and cinematically.  It turned Nolan and Bale into stars and launched two fantastic sequels that would make The Dark Knight Trilogy one of cinema’s greatest trilogies.

What are you favorite franchise reboots?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.