Top 5 Movies with Spin-Offs

Since 1997, Harry Potter has been enchanting the literate and in 2001, with the arrival of his movies, the world. 

The legacy of Harry Potter will live on forever but is the wizarding world meant to expand? JK Rowling announced in that she would be making a spin off television series with Warner Bros Studios. 

It won’t be about Harry Potter though.

Remember that popular text book that everyone had- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? Well it’s not exactly about that either. It’s about the author, Newt Scamander. 

This will take place in New York City, 70 years before Harry Potter is born. Extension of the wizarding world, not prequel or sequel.

It will be an interesting setting to see as the Harry Potter series didn’t have any American representatives in it. “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films”. How will it compare and what in the world could take the place of the ultimate villain You-Know-Who?

What can we expect of this spin off? Let’s look back on some amazing films and their babies.

In 1977, Star Wars greeted the world and let us bask in its awesomeness until 1983 with the release of the last of the original trilogy. George Lucas was hopped up on the Force and decided that the trilogy just wasn’t enough at which point he decided that a Star Wars spin-off would be the best course of action at which point Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure was born.

Just the name is enough to make you question if you want to watch this or not. It is about a family who’s shuttlecraft crashes on Endor. The family is split up, the adults captured by a giant and the children left alone. An Ewok, looking for his sons, finds them and together they go on an adventure to save the parents. 

X-Men was also a brilliant series. There was X-Men, X-Men: The Last Stand, And X-Men First Class. All of the X-Men and Professor Xavier together fighting against the forces of evil and battling internal conflicts and striving for acceptance.  

Then somewhere in the middle, they thought that Wolverine needed his own story and they called it X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It starts 200 years ago with the mutant brothers Logan and Victor. They go through hardships, are recruited by Stryker as special agent mutant commandos and Logan quits to be a lumberjack, falls in love with a teacher and when Stryker wants Logan to rejoin the command and is turned town, Stryker sends the sadistic and murderous brother and now Logan is out for blood. 

It didn’t do so well…

Batman. Need I say more? Well, I will anyways. Batman has had a history of fantastic films but the one I specifically want to point out is Batman Returns. Brilliant. Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance as Catwoman was immaculately executed. Then a few years later came Catwoman’s own story. Not with Michelle Pfieffer or even the history and creation of Catwoman that the DC creators had but a Catwoman that really wasn’t much like the character at all with the exception of black clothes and having it out for the boss. Needless to say, it flopped. Thank god that Christopher Nolan came along and redeemed the good name of Catwoman. 

In the late 90’s, everyone was all about The Mummy and why shouldn’t we have been? Brendan Fraser as an archeologist at a cursed site in Egypt is awesome! The spin off was a little less Indian Jones and a little more about The Rock-hard pecs. This one has an evil king with an evil sorceress who foresees his evil victories. Free tribes hire an assassin and The Rock goes to work (*spoiler* he’s the Scorpion King). 

Forgetting Sarah Marshall came out in 2008 and was phenomenal. It appealed to the girls love of romantic comedies and the humor that guys want. It also had a musical with Muppets and you can’t beat that. From this movie came the spin-off Get Him to the Greek featuring Russell Brand’s character Aldous Snow (which is essentially everyday Russell Brand) and awkward Jonah Hill trying to get him to put aside the vices and make it to gigs on time. Shenanigans ensue at the very, very end there’s a bit of character development and a hint of redemption. 

So while the trends of the past don’t exactly leave us wanting more, perhaps Ms. Rowling and her ingenious writing will actually make for a spectacular television series. Here’s hoping.  

Author Bio: Laura Bensen is a freelance writer for the People Magazine sect of Magazines.com. She is an avid lover of movies, shows, books, and comics that fall in the action, sci-fi, or fantasy.