Spin-Offs: The Dos and Don'ts Looking to expand your franchise? Here are some tips based on movies that have tried… Tweet
	1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8	Back	6 of 8	Next
6. Don’t Bank On One Minor Character For all its faults, the first Wolverine spin-off at least made use of the franchise’s most popular character. But when Universal decided to keep the American Pie cash cow mooing at a vastly reduced, straight-to-DVD budget, they jettisoned the main cast, held on to Eugene Levy and paraded a revolving assortment of newcomers and no-namers in front of him for an increasingly desperate series of sex farces. Things improved when the original cast all agreed to come back for American Pie: Reunion. When Chris Klein and Tara Reid are a saving grace, you know your franchise is on life support.
	1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8	Back	6 of 8	Next

Have Your Say
Register or login now to let us know what you think.

Your Comments

1	spin offs in their own franchises
	I do rather like seeing other significant comic characters in movies like wolverine. Reminds me of the actual comics (the comics used to do this for the same cynical "we might get a spin off comic out of this" reason). Besides Wolverine:Origins screwed themselves with Deadpool by removing his voice and then killing him. His annoying banter is his defining characteristic. Continuity does not lend to a stand-alone movie More
	Posted by Count Karnstein on Tuesday October 30, 2012, 20:53
2	RE:
	L: BelfastBoy .........(See also another waste of Ryan Reynolds' talents in Blade Trinity!) use of the word "talent" I've not seen before More
	Posted by gregzebidy on Tuesday October 30, 2012, 01:17
3
	Here's another big 'don't', inspired principally by X-Men Origins: Wolverine - When a film is itself a spinoff from an existing franchise, don't further waste (screen) time and effort on minor characters who you want to spin off into their own franchises, thus diluting the main storylines of the actual film. How else to explain the showy but effectively glorified cameos from Gambit and Deadpool? (See also another waste of Ryan Reynolds' talents in Blade Trinity!) More
	Posted by BelfastBoy on Monday October 29, 2012, 12:43

CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS
		The Biggest Doctor Who Jaw-Droppers The Time Lord's biggest surprises over 50 years of TV
		Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch: A Beginner's Guide To The Avengers 2 Newcomers Your primer on the brother and sister joining the A-team
		Clint Mansell On Making Requiem For A Dream 'Darren had to edit at night because he could get access to the studio for free then.'
		Arrested Development Video Interviews Say hello to Jeffrey Tambor, David Cross, Tony Hale, Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat
		Empire's Favourite Music Moments From The Pixies to Burt Bacharach via Audioslave
		Cannes Film Festival Videblogisode #2 Episode II: Attack Of The Clouds featuring Emma Watson and Paul Haggis
		The 20 Soundtracks That Defined The 2000s The sounds of a dark knight, a mischievous Parisian, a troubled family and one flying house...

Follow @empiremagazine