8 Upcoming Movies That Could Save Failing Franchises

2016 turned out to be a big year for franchise filmmaking. As well all the multiple installments into superhero universes – Disney’s MCU, Warner Bros.’ DCEU and Fox’s X-Men universe – there were “rebootquels” of long-dead series like Ghostbusters and Independence Day. Plus, we also got some spinoffs from mainline franchises like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Rogue One. 

2017, meanwhile, looks to be… another big year for movie franchises. There are yet more DC and Marvel films to appear, as well as new additions to the Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean and Planet of the Apes series. Plus, there’s also possible franchise-starters in The Dark Tower and Ghost in the Shell. 

It might be premature, but some of these movies we’ve already written off as more of the same. For instance, War of the Planet of the Apes will hopefully be another solid entry into the Apes prequels while Dead Men Tell No Tales will likely be just as poor as the last Pirates films. Some of next year’s movies are more intriguing, however. With the following eight flicks, we like what we’ve seen so far and are hoping that they’ll breathe new life into their creatively-defunct franchises.