The article highlights several movie franchises that have enhanced their quality and popularity over time, such as Legendary Pictures' MonsterVerse, the MCU, and the Star Wars saga.
Film franchises are always fascinating to evaluate and explore. Many start strong, leaning on the cultural impact and financial success of an original movie with ensuing spin-offs and sequels diminishing in quality as studios capitalize on commercial opportunity at the expense of quality.
Others, like the MCU and the Star Wars saga, are more sporadic in terms of their quality, oscillating between beloved gems and forgettable misfires as they expand. Movie franchises that improve with every release are incredibly rare, but they do exist. Science fiction cinema alone has presented several such franchises, ranging from action-packed dystopian blockbusters to richly dramatic gems that use follow-up films to build on the depth and intrigue of the worlds they take place in.
While everybody’s opinion is different, and that is a beautiful thing to celebrate in art, it is easy to mount a case that these six cinematic series have only gone from strength to strength as they have evolved. Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse Dubbed the MonsterVerse, Legendary Pictures’ efforts to bring the cult sensation of kaiju carnage to the modern age of blockbuster entertainment have been intriguing, to say the least.
They can never be accused of being overly invested in thematic depth, character development, or even bold storytelling creativity, but what they do excel at is delivering robust, rampaging excitement that is perfect for a night of popcorn-eating thrills. It began with 2014’s much-anticipated though maligned Godzilla, which spiraled into intriguing though flawed movies in Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, before the franchise truly started to find its feet as a blockbuster bonanza with 2021’s crossover Godzilla vs. Kong. 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has been the biggest treat of the cinematic universe so far.
The fifth film in the saga illustrates a continuous appetite to make each movie bigger and more boisterous than the last in the name of escapist, ecstatic carnage. It is difficult to discern if the movies have truly gotten better over the years, but the ever-building grandeur of each flick is impossible to deny.
The scheduled release of Godzilla x Kong: Supernova in 2027 promises to be yet another display of one-upmanship within the franchise, with the film rumored to feature SpaceGodzilla alongside a litany of Hollywood A-listers, including Kaitlyn Dever, Jack O’Connell, and Delroy Lindo. COLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes.
Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → QUESTION 1 / 8INSTINCT 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you.
What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons.
Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it.
EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 8RESOURCE 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them.
BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 8THREAT 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid.
No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing.
EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 8AUTHORITY 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do.
Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to.
Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 8ENVIRONMENT 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand.
EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 8ALLIANCE 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose.
BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities.
I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 8MORALITY 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen.
Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed.
I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 8PURPOSE 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers.
Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In… Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for.
This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The Resistance, Zion The Matrix You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. The Wasteland Mad Max The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break.
That's you. Los Angeles, 2049 Blade Runner You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. Arrakis Dune Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. A Galaxy Far, Far Away Star Wars The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ The 'Riddick' Franchise It is difficult to assess the quality of each of the Riddick movies against one another because they vary surprisingly drastically in terms of story, tone, scope, and style. 2000’s Pitch Black is genuinely an underrated gem of high-concept, low-budget entertainment, mixing elements of sci-fi adventure and monster horror. It follows survivors of a crash stranded on a desert planet who find themselves hunted by nocturnal beasts during an eclipse.
While endowed with a far more significant budget, The Chronicles of Riddick maintains the original’s modest allure even as it unfolds as a sprawling space opera, while 2013’s Riddick delivers a grounded and intense action-thriller that eschews its predecessors’ campy tone for a more serious and sinister aesthetic. Many would understandably argue that the Riddick saga is at its best in its first installment, when it is forced to make savvy creative decisions to build an air of suspense and dread in an elaborate sci-fi environment despite modest funding.
However, it is impossible to deny that the quality of the movies’ production doesn’t continually improve across the three-film stretch. The world-building gets stronger, the action becomes more impressive and visceral, and Vin Diesel’s grasp on the character gets firmer and more refined with each subsequent film.
Denis Villeneuve’s 'Dune' Franchise While it is still in its infancy and has set a remarkably high bar for itself going forward, the Dune movies have exhibited a creative fervor and storytelling intensity that suggests the saga will only grow stronger, more incisive, and more thematically pointed as it evolves. Of course, at this point, that simply means Dune: Part Two exists in a rare breed of film sequels that have surpassed their predecessor, but it is the nature of how it exceeds 2021’s Dune that gives cause to hope that the looming release of Dune: Part Three will be another improvement for the franchise.
The first Dune movie is clearly a masterpiece in its own right, not only because of its epic scope and spectacular visuals, but because of how it meticulously lays the world-building framework for the following movies to soar. Dune: Part Two matches the first film’s breathtaking presentation and technical excellence, but it goes beyond it in terms of its narrative might.
Frank Herbert’s emphasis on the moral decay and power lust of Paul Atreides to become a more central focus as he uses his prophesied status as a messiah figure to manipulate the Fremen into becoming his personal army. Likewise, the story’s exploration of such themes as colonization, vengeance, the perils of fanaticism, and the malleable nature of faith becomes much more apparent.
If Dune: Part Three can further extrapolate these ideas, it won’t just round out what is one of the greatest feats in the history of sci-fi cinema; it could become the genre’s defining triumph as well. The 'Planet of the Apes' Reboot Franchise Reboots, not too dissimilar to franchises, can bring about a sense of dread and begrudging interest from audiences.
Many are lazy attempts from major studios to capitalize on an established I.P. by rehashing a classic story with some new special effects. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was far from that. Running as a prequel of sorts to the iconic Planet of the Apes franchise of the 1960s and '70s, it starts by exploring how the evolution of the apes and the decimation of humanity transpired.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes then built on this foundation with a compelling tale of strained interspecies relations and warmongering vindictiveness, while War for the Planet of the Apes excels as a stunning story of morality, conviction, and survival as a crazed human colonel wages war against Caesar and his clan. Even 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes thrives at expanding the story world of the reboot franchise and showcasing Caesar’s enduring legacy on his people while loosely connecting the trilogy to the events of the original film series.
Furthermore, in the first three movies, particularly, courtesy of Serkis’s performance, the portrayal and detail of the apes go from impressive to utterly outstanding, with the marriage of physical acting and CGI becoming stronger over time. All four films are modern gems of sci-fi cinema that build an absorbing world littered with fascinating and emotionally resonant characters, be they ape or human. With each passing release, that thematic poignancy and character detail grow stronger.
The 'Avatar' Franchise Avatar took the world by storm when it was released in 2009. Not only did it become the highest-grossing film in cinematic history, but it also became a monumental cultural phenomenon by immersing viewers in a sci-fi world of arresting splendor and meticulous intricacy. Even as its storytelling caused debate whether it was too thematically obvious or a timely message of natural conservation and corporate greed, the soulful allure of its visual brilliance endured.
Fans had to wait 13 years to return to the majesty of Pandora, with James Cameron waiting for filmmaking advancements regarding underwater motion-capture technology to make his vision come to life. Avatar: The Way of Water was worth the wait, surpassing its predecessor as an astonishing feat of world-building wonder and special effects artistry. It also expanded the setting of Pandora, realizing its oceanic environment and biosphere, as well as exploring a different race of the native Na’vi.
Avatar: Fire and Ash took the franchise to new heights, spreading its eye to the warmongering Mangkwan clan, who reside in the ashes of their scorched home tree in a harsh, rocky, and volcanic biome of the planet. This new story thread didn’t just allow for Avatar: Fire and Ash to revel in yet another new environmental setting; it incorporated a much darker and viscerally intense tone, with the Mangkwan clan’s ruthless hostility an engrossing addition.
With two more movies scheduled to be released in 2029 and 2031, the Avatar franchise promises to continue growing in visual excellence and thematic boldness. The 'Mad Max' Franchise What began as a grungy action revenge flick filmed in Australia on a minuscule budget has now, after almost 50 years, become one of the defining titles in blockbuster cinema.
This feat isn’t achieved by regressing to formulaic foundations with the hope that bigger budgets can produce bigger spectacles, but through a daring and decisive endeavor to evolve the franchise with each movie, and George Miller executed it to perfection. Whereas 1979’s Mad Max is a gritty dystopian thriller, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is able to fully commit to the hellish landscape of the post-apocalyptic world, delivering a masterclass in impactful world-building buoyed by stunning and timeless practical effects.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome doubles down again on this frenzied allure, indulging in excess while delivering a more thematically refined story than its predecessors. Subscribe to the newsletter for franchise deep-dives Explore why certain film franchises improve with each release—subscribe to the newsletter for in-depth breakdowns, production context, and curated viewing picks that illuminate how sagas evolve over time. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime. However, it wasn’t until 30 years later that the franchise truly reached its peak. 2015’s inspired reboot Mad Max: Fury Road delivered an infectious procession of balletic carnage and visceral intensity, which many consider to be the greatest action movie ever made. Its sequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, delivers the most emotionally compelling and thematically nuanced film of the entire franchise.
The outright best Mad Max movie is a hot topic for debate amongst fans the world over. Alas, no one would deny that the franchise’s greatest asset to its longevity and generation-transcending popularity has been its determination to evolve and expand with each movie while staying true to its integral identity.
Mad Max R Adventure Action Thriller Science Fiction Release Date April 12, 1979 Cast Joanne Samuel, Mel Gibson, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns, Roger Ward, Vincent Gil, Lulu Pinkus, Lisa Aldenhoven, David Bracks, Bertrand Cadart, David Cameron, Robina Chaffey, Stephen Clark, Mathew Constantine, Jerry Day, Reg Evans, Howard Eynon, Max Fairchild, John Farndale, Peter Felmingham, Sheila Florance, Nic Gazzana, Hunter Gibb, Andrew Gilmore Runtime 91 minutes Director George Miller Writers James McCausland, George Miller Powered by Expand Collapse
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